The Cats
by Sovietkitty
Summary: On the Ooarai school ship, a white cat is discovered in the shed where the tanks are stored. But soon, cats are multiplying, becoming increasingly darker and their eyes taking an odder and odder color, while students die in strange ways or sink into madness... Contains some graphic scenes, I'll warn you in author's notes. Please read them all.
1. Prologue

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :**** Hello everyone, I'm still rewriting Ten Little Soldiers, but I post another fanfic because I wanted to write another one. I was hesitating between this one and another with Anchovie and Carpaccio, or with Oryou that ends up in an odd dreamworld, but I chose to post this one. I hope you'll like it. I try to make another dark story on GuP.  
****For those who don't know, English isn't my native language. I translate by myself from French (I don't release the French version because GuP isn't known enough in France), and I do the best I can. I can make some grammar/syntax/spelling mistakes. Also, I would like to be helped with characterization, tell me if I make OOC sometimes.**

**Good reading !**

* * *

**PROLOGUE  
**

* * *

It was a cloudy but overall fine day on the Ooarai school ship.

All the Panzerfahren teams of the school were in the shed where the tanks were stored.  
All maintained their tanks. There was a fairly relaxed atmosphere, all members of the tankery club spoke, told jokes, laughed, got along well. Even Sodoko, who was very serious, came to laugh a little, but only with her teammates, Pazomi and Gomoyo.  
The Hippo team inserted, as usual, historical references in their sentences. But this time, they were having fun making jokes about history.  
Members of the Duck team were busy with organizing their next game of volleyball. They never missed an opportunity to play.  
Those of the Turtle team, the members of the Student Council, had just had a meeting and could therefore relax maintaining their Hetzer. Anzu was, one time again, eating dried sweet potatoes.  
The other teams, Leopon and Anteater, also laughed together. Mixing automotive and video games was quite fun.

Miho, after finished cleaning her Panzer IV, sat on it. Her friends joined her.  
"This tank is really everything to me," Yukari said, lying on it.

"Oh, we're not everything for you?" the captain joked.

"Of course yes! But I love this tank as much as you," the vivacious brunette replied, stroking the armour. "Oooh, dear Panzer... even if you'll never equal a twin-turreted 7TP... I love you anyway!"

"She's silly enough for speaking to a tank", Mako mumbled as usual.

"This is our Yukarin" Saori whispered with a smile.

"It's true," the lethargic admitted. "Why had I to get up this morning?"

"Because the morning always comes," Sodoko let out from the B1 bis. "And I would point out that you were late again!"

"It's a habit for me to be in a rush," the girl with the headband replied. "Yourself you know."

Midoriko preferred to remain silent. The conversation might fester and it wasn't the moment at all. However, everything was covered with humor that the most made.

Suddenly a little white thing went on the Type-89 of Duck team.  
It was a pretty thin kitten with big blue eyes, but a blank stare, giving it a weird look.  
"Hey, do you know where is this cat from?" Taeko asked, a little intrigued.

"No, I don't know how it went here, it seems to me that the shed is closed," Noriko said.

"Maybe it was already there," Anzu spoke.

"Yeah, but how could it come here if the shed isn't open?" Momogaa questioned.

"The shed isn't sealed, so there may be a hole in a wall," Tsuchiya explained.

"After that, this cat carries no chemical weapons or small nuclear bomb, so we're not in danger," Erwin added.

"Well, we won't make a fuss for a kitty," the President of the Student Council finished. "After all, who cares?"

"There's a lot of birds coming through the roof ..." Ayumi remarked. "So a cat..."

When they left, the little animal seemed to stay next to the tanks. It didn't go out with them. It stood there.  
Miho and her friends went on the road of the captain's apartment. They discussed on the way.  
"I wonder from where is this kitty from", Hana began.

"Oh, I think Tsuchiya is right, it probably went into the shed by a hole in the wall," Miho told.

"How does a cat could be dangerous?" Yukari questioned.

"It could be carrying a disease, but from the outside it was perfectly normal," Mako said.

"Why would it be sick ? From what I know, there is no outbreak of rabies or other illness on the ship, so logically, it was healthy," Saori considered.

"If there was anything wrong, we would have seen it in my opinion," the bright brown-haired completed.

"Oh you know, I tend to worry sometimes, especially when I'm tired", the florist apologized.

As they passed near the dorm where some students had a room, Hana noticed something.  
"Hey, isn't it the same cat that we saw in the shed?"

A kitten, almost identical to the first except for the eyes, sat on the edge of a window and watched them passing. He had a bit darker blue eyes.  
"It looks like the one Taeko found in the hangar," Mako nodded.

"It's cute as hell," Miho added.

"Can we take it?" Yukari asked.

"No, I can't have pets in my apartment, and I don't have time to look after them," the captain declined, a little embarrassed. "Even if I like kittens ..."

"Oh, it's okay, we still have our Panzer", Yukari chuckled.

They parted at a crossroads. Miho went home.  
She quickly got ready to eat and sat on her sofa bed. She wondered from where these cats came. There were no complete white kittens there. On land, there were, but not on this ship, they had other colors or stains.  
Also, she did not remember seeing cats hanging around tanks. They feared tanks and didn't dare to approach. But then, the kitten came into the hangar.  
After finishing her meal, she washed her plate, took a shower, brushed her teeth and unfolded her bed. She laid on it with her favorite bandaged teddy bear, then turned off the light.

She said to herself that the next day would be another day. But she still wondered about the kittens.


	2. Chapter 1 : Two, White, Blue

**CHAPTER 1**

* * *

Miho had a terrible nightmare this night.  
She dreamed that she was in the dark, surrounded by cats like the kitten she had met near the dorm.  
They encircled her by far. They formed a perimeter around an area where she was smuggled. They meowed something strange, some kind of mantra, with their tiny kitten voice. Something Miho didn't understand.  
A symbol appeared before her and they pronounced a name that was familiar to her in a very robotic way...  
Piyotan.  
She didn't want to be spotted by the cats and hid somewhere, until another incantation sounded, and there she no longer understood anything. The only thing she was able to understand hitherto was Piyotan.  
A piercing, very loud cry and colors alternating rapidly between red and black passed before her eyes with the vision of a cat skull in the middle, keeping it white, static, hurting her eyes and her ears.

That nightmare awoke her shortly before her alarm clock and she dared not go back to sleep. She got up directly.  
It remained in her head during the entire time she was getting ready for school. When she closed her eyes, she saw the cat skull and the violent alternation of colors behind. If she was epileptic, she could have a seizure.  
She thought about Piyotan. Why had she dreamed of her? She had certainly not seen it, but she had heard the kittens calling her name.  
She left shortly after and crossed her friends on the way to school.

"Miporin!" Saori called. "I heard meowing under my window last night..."

"I had a terrible nightmare last night... and there were cats inside," Miho told.

"Oh, I slept well," Yukari said .

"Me too, I haven't dreamed of anything," Hana added.

"I slept like a log as usual so nothing and nobody could get me out of my sleep," Mako muttered in her habitual voice.

"More or less Saori, I also dreamed of Piyotan, I don't know why..."

"Piyotan? But you don't have much in common," the ginger replied.

"After all, it's probably just a dream," the bright brunette continued.

"Maybe, but I hope it's just a nightmare, it was really awful, especially now that I come to make me worrying about her..."

"If something had happened to her, we would know about it," Mako intervened. "And in this case, we haven't been told about anything."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's okay," Hana reassured her.

As they advanced towards the school and passed near the dormitory, they crossed Nekota.  
"Hey, you know if Piyotan will come today?"

Miho felt suddenly bad.  
"I don't know, why?"

"I knocked on her room's door this morning, she didn't respond, maybe she's ill?" the girl with fake cat ears added.

"And Momogaa?" Hana asked.

"She is looking around the dorm, do you think I should go for her?"

"We're going with you!" Yukari said cheerfully. "I love looking for things or people! Maybe we'll find a tank-"

"Yeah, but if we're late, we'll get landed with Sodoko" Mako interrupted.

"It's not her today, you're lucky, it's Gomoyo" the girl with long blonde hair continued.

"Oh, okay then! She swallows all conceivable reasons", the bright brown-haired went on.

They took the road to the dorm and began to look for Momogaa.  
They called her several times in vain, until after about a quarter of an hour trying to find her, the girl with the peach-shaped eyepatch joined them.  
"We've been looking for you everywhere!" Yukari exclaimed.

"But where were you?" Nekota questioned, worried.

"I was looking for Piyotan... I walked several times around, I knocked many times at her door and she still doesn't respond, do you think we should break down the door?" the freshman asked.

"We should already look inside by the window before trying anything, even if we have to break into her room," Hana explained.

"On which floor is she? Because we won't climb the walls..." the lethargic continued.

"On the first floor..." the girl with the eyepatch sighed. "But my room is a few doors away from hers."

"There's only one solution, we have to force the lock or even the door," Yukari finally said.

"My key may work, after all, maybe it's the same lock as my room," Nekota told, getting out her keys.

"We should see it", Miho ended.

They returned to the dormitory and went, on the indications of the two members of the Anteater team, to the door Piyotan's room.  
They knocked one time, more or less gently. No answer.

"It's been an hour since I try to make her react..." Momogaa whispered.

"Open! Piyotan!" Nekota called to be heard.  
Still nothing.

They retried one last time, without success, which greatly began to worry them.

"Nekota, do you have your key?" the commander asked.

"Yes, I have it."

She went into the lock and turned it, and after a few minutes trying to force the lock with her own key which had a similar shape, Nekota managed to open.  
Some kind of heaviness and a strange smell were emanating from the room. They were in the small hallway and saw nothing there yet, but as soon as they passed the door...  
If the room was a mess, it wasn't the problem. However, the walls were stained with a red substance at some points, and under a long trail of blood next to the window... a form, lying motionless, with silver hair, was facing the wall.  
Piyotan.

Momogaa rushed at her friend and shook her.  
"Piyotan, Piyotan!"

She was already stiff and cold. Tears in her eyes, she turned to her comrades:  
"It's over ..."

She turned the body, discovering a wild, emotionless stare, and an unhealthy expression on her face, which wasn't like Piyotan. As if in a fit of madness, she had smashed her skull on the wall, as evidenced by the deep wound, the coagulated blood on her forehead.  
And behind her body, a white kitten, also with its eyes open, dead. It was the kitten that they had seen the day before on a window.

"Oh ..." Nekota muttered, unable to shed a tear as she was shocked.  
Her throat could hurt her as if she was strangled, nothing came out. She was paralyzed by the sight of her dead friend.

"Oh my god, no!" Yukari let out, very shocked.

"Was she fine last night?" Miho questioned.

"Yes ... When we parted, she was perfectly normal, why?" Momogaa replied.

"She seems to have been mad before dying... Did you hear anything suspicious?" Hana asked.

"No, we hadn't noticed anything, it's terrible..." the girl with fake cat ears blew.

"I'm awfully sorry for you," Mako said.

"It will never be the same without her..." the girl with the eye patch sobbed.

"Poor Piyotan... may she rest in peace," Saori whispered.


	3. Chapter 2 : Mystery, Anxiety

**Chapter 2**

At the cafeteria, during lunch, the Anglerfish team members could discuss without being too much listened.  
"You think it was the kitten which killed Piyotan?" Yukari began.

"The way she died... oh... I-I'm still reeling from the shock," Saori stammered. "I wonder how could she go crazy to the point of killing herself... It wasn't like her!"

"I agree ! She was more of the sane type," Miho added. "I never would have believed it as she was calm, she loved video games, it reminds me of the match against Kuromorimine when their Type 3 was shot !"

"She and her team saved us that day," Hana remembered.

"But what intrigues me most is the kitten... Why was it there?" the bright brunette continued.

"I don't know, I dreamed of it last night, I saw lots of white kittens and I heard her name" Miho confessed.

"Premonition?" the ginger asked.

"I don't know, but I'm afraid to dream again like last night," the captain whispered. "That vision at the end... something screaming in my ears and torturing my eyes ..."

"How so?" Yukari said.

"If you want, a terrible cry pierced my eardrums and before my eyes I saw a violent transition between red and black, and in the middle a cat skull that wasn't changing... an epileptic would have a seizure... "

They continued to talk until the end of the meal. They were surprised that talking about death doesn't cut their appetite.  
Upon leaving, they sat until classes begin and they would go out or simply maintain the tanks. From a distance, they saw the Anteater team dislocated forever, now counting only two members. Nekota and Momogaa seemed sad, mourning Piyotan, whose death still surprised the Anglerfish team.

Not far away, there were other teams, like the Hippos or the Student Council.  
When the bell rang, all advanced towards the shed. Miho wondered if the kitten was still there.

She began to feel the stress growing inside her. And if it was it who had killed Piyotan with its congener?  
The volleyball team joined them.

"Will we take the tanks out?" Noriko asked.

"I don't know, maybe, if Chono-san is here today," Miho replied.

"Isn't someone missing?" Akebi said.

"Yes, Piyotan. You know for her?" the captain questioned.

"Yes, Nekota told us about her death," Taeko stated. "Moreover, the fact that a white kitten with blue eyes was next to her body... makes me slightly scared, I'm almost afraid to go in the shed now..."

"Don't worry, it's harmless, someone took it here, or Piyotan took it to her room and crushed it by falling on it," the small girl with short brown hair reassured.

Miho knew now that she was not the only one to fear these strange kittens. She wondered if Taeko would be next, since she was the first to discover them.  
When they entered, there was no trace of the passage of the little cats. They seemed to have disappeared. Nothing indicated that the day before, a small white animal had gone on the Type 89.  
Teams came forward one by one to their respective tank, awaiting orders from their instructor who would probably arrive soon. They could have remported the championship, they were still learning Panzerfahren.

On the side of the Duck team, the situation tensed for an unknown reason.

"Come on, open and go see if everything is ready!" Noriko ordered to the radio operator.

Taeko had her hands on the hatch, but didn't seem to dare open it. She had hiccups throughout her body.

"I ... I can't!" she said, trembling.

"Of course you can!" the commander agitated. "Don't forget that you must save the volleyball club with us!"

"No, no, seriously, I can't," continued the girl with pinkish hair, in a terribly anguished voice seeming to weaken at the end of her sentence.

"Just open and I go inside," Shinobu said to her. "Noriko, don't force her, you can see that she doesn't want..."

Taeko still couldn't open the hatch. When Akebi tried to help her and she finally manage to open it, something small and white on the seat of the tank commander made the girl with the red headband step back with a cry of fear and failing to fall backwards.  
"But ... what happens? It's not like you!" Akebi noticed.

Her teammate, tears in her eyes, curled up as if she had a stomach ache. She was crying, moaning, as if the mere sight of something white had terrified her.  
It was indeed the kitten yesterday that was on Noriko's seat. The latter took it and threw it back to remove it from the Type 89.

"Taeko, are you okay?" she said, turning to her teammate.

"This is the same kitten as in my nightmare of last night!"

Miho's ears twitched.  
"Wait... your nightmare of last night?" Shinobu questioned, who found the reaction of her friend incomprehensible.

"I... I dreamed that white kitties jumped on me and killed me... they were tearing off my face and neck skin!" continued the girl, crying more intensely and failing to pee on herself.

"Calm down, it's just a kitten!" Noriko tried to appease. "Listen, we go out and we'll come back when you'll have calmed down, okay? It will go away, do not worry."  
The Duck team went some time outside to calm Taeko down, then returned, even if the radio operator was still holding a bit her belly and hardly dared to go in the shed, checking everywhere if there was no white kitten.  
She ended by regaining her composure, but was way more cautious comparing to usual.

Miho, while cleaning the Panzer IV, saw the kitten sneaking in Team Leopon's Tiger Porsche. What would it do in it? Why was it returning there?  
She didn't, however, pay much attention to it, trying to focus on something else. She was, like Taeko, brought back to her dream when she saw it.  
She dared not looking directly into its eyes and the fact that the radio operator of the Duck team had made a similar nightmare but in a more violent way surprised her.

"You're okay, Miporin?" Saori worried.

"Ah! Uhm..., yes, I am! Don't worry, I just think..."

"About?" her friend continued.

"You know, I heard from Taeko that she had a nightmare where she was killed by white kittens, you know, just now, when she had an anxiety attack on the tank. Well well, it reminds me of my own dream, I had a similar thing, white kittens, a very scary thing, I told you about it...!"

"Nishizumi-dono, I'll protect you no matter what. Never, for anything, I'll leave you!" Yukari intervened. "And if these little kittens are attacking you..."

"Thank you Yukarin, but I think it will be okay for me," the captain said patting the head of her teammate.

On the side of the Hippo team, they checked the StuG III's mechanisms.

"I wonder what our instructor is doing," Caesar began. "Maybe she is far in Europe strolling on the seven hills of Rome..."

"No, in my opinion, she negotiates an alliance with a clan" Saemonza carried on.

"Roughly, she's not here," Erwin concluded while standing up. "I would say that she visits North Africa."

"Why would she be bothered going in North Africa when she can stay in Japan?" Oryou asked. "Don't forget that we are on a ship, although she is perhaps searching for the last descendants of Tokugawa clan."

"Oh yeah, not a stupid idea at all," the blonde remarked .

They began to see if the tracks were still in place. No problem. Everything was as it should. The tank destroyer was in a good state.

When the school day ended, Miho had a conversation with her friends before returning home.  
And barely past her door, she threw her school bag and laid down on the sofa. She had only one wish, to sleep without dreaming. The bad dream she had last night left her tired as she slept badly.  
But what disturbed her the most was the fact that Taeko, which however had almost nothing in common with her, had had a similar nightmare.

Maybe it was because she had approached the kitten. But if it was not the latter, what triggered them both terrible dreams and anxiety attacks for one?  
When she grabbed the remote to turn on the television, she thought she heard something scratching at her door and meowing.  
Aware that she would probably end up like Piyotan if she opened, she acted as if nothing happened and lit her screen.

But another strange noise caught her attention. She heard a kind of rumbling in the ceiling. She forced herself to think of something else.  
Would she suffer the same fate as her fellow of the Anteater team? And for the others, what would happen to them?


	4. Chapter 3 : Four, Light Grey, Green

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Sorry if it took so long ! I hadn't have much free time even if the week-end was longer, but I finally managed to finish this chapter !  
There might be OOC, even if some personalities are reversed because... Oh, you'll discover why. c:**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Taeko woke up with a start that night, her heart pounding wildly, sweating, short-winded.  
She had, once again, a terrible nightmare.  
A young gray cat with green eyes followed her in the street. She tried to escape, without success. And suddenly a horde of cats that were identical to the first one passed between her legs, made her fall, and scratched her until death ensues.  
She could still feel the pain of her injuries that weren't even real. She was trembling. She was weeping. She stood up, walked to the bathroom and put some water on her face, then returned to her bed and laid down on it, without wanting to sleep, too afraid to have the same dream. She was afraid to sleep now. She wanted to call one of her friends, but given to the time, she wouldn't to call them at 4:30 AM.

She had heard by Noriko that Miho had a nightmare similar to hers. She wondered if, like her, the captain had one again.  
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but when she fell asleep, the vision of these cats haunted her, which wakened her again.  
So she decided to do something while waiting for the sleep to come back. She walked into her room several times, went into the bathroom and looked at herself.  
_"Oh, well, my dye is fading, I have to redo one soon,"_ she thought as she stared at her reflection.  
Her hair, originally maroon-ish brown, hadn't much tints of pink remaining. Her face was drawn, showing her tiredness, and her brown eyes were comatose.  
She had to sleep but she dreaded nightmares.

She sat on her bed after coming back, wishing to watch a volleyball game she had saved, but didn't have the energy to take the remote control. She fell asleep without realizing it from exhaustion, no longer dreaming. She was too exhausted by the anxiety.  
In the morning, Taeko woke late. She didn't hear her alarm clock. She was too tired; it was a call from Akebi which caught her attention.  
"Yes?" she replied with a slightly hoarse voice.

"What are you doing? Are you sick ? Why don't you come?"

"What time is it?" she whispered, losing the notion of time.

"Nine and a half hours!" indicated the blonde on the phone.

"OH GOD DAMMIT !" the girl with brown hair swore. "I'll be right there!"

"Hurry up!" Akebi said .  
Taeko hung off and prepared herself quickly, ate very fast and rushed to the academy, anxious, afraid to find another kitten.

Miho, meanwhile, was with her friends on a bench because they had a free period.  
While Hana, Saori and Mako had advanced further, Yukari approached her.

"Nishizumi-dono, I started to ask myself some questions tonight."

"About the kittens? I had another nightmare."

"Ah?" the bright brunette said. "The same?"

"Almost. But this time, they talked of Nakajima... and...and this vision at the end, this cat skull with those alternating colors which exploded my eyes and that cry that broke my ears ... "

"So that would mean that she's..."

"Yes, I'm afraid of it, or she'll will be shortly," the captain murmured. "Or maybe what happened to Piyotan is a coincidence."

"I don't know and it scares me, I don't even want to look directly into these kittens' eyes or touch them," confessed Yukari.

"When in doubt, leave it out," Miho advised.  
The commander of Anglerfishes tried to remove as soon as possible this vision she had during two nights. But it always came back abruptly a few seconds later. The anguish of the captain went up a notch when Taeko came to see her.  
"Senpai, can I see you for a moment?" she said, looking tired and anxious.

"Yes," Miho agreed.  
They moved away slightly.

"I heard that you had nightmares too..." the girl with pink tints began.

"Yes, they're very strange and are except for one thing the same."

"Mine are horrific... That night I dreamed again that cats were killing me, and they had green eyes this time instead of blue, and they were gray instead of white..."

"Maybe it's because you discovered them?"

"I don't know, it disturbs me more and more, and Noriko was weird this morning..."

Miho's heart skipped a beat.

"What? Noriko was weird?"

"Yes, she had a completely blank stare despite those expressions she had on her face, plus, at times, she uttered strange words, it scares me..."  
The captain felt increasingly bad.

"She touched the kitten, right?"

"Yes, she removed it from the tank when I had an anxiety attack..."

"That explains all! Don't touch one of these kittens, don't stare directly at their eyes, for safety..."

"Thanks for the advice, Senpai," Taeko ended before returning to her friends as Miho who did the same.

The one like the other were very stressed. They were always afraid of these cats, whether they were large or small, they would never see them in the same way.  
In the afternoon, Miho and others went to the shed.

They noticed the absence of a member of the Leopon team. Nakajima. The captain felt her stomach tighten. She had only one fear: that the member of the automotive club died.

For her, Erwin could try to think of something else, she was still thinking a lot of the cats. Even with her friends, she couldn't not wonder about the mystery.  
She wasn't afraid yet; she hadn't touched or been in contact with these kittens. She was not likely to stress unnecessarily, but was still very concerned.  
The blonde with the peaked hat felt Caesar tapping her shoulder.  
"You are very thoughtful today!" she noticed.

"Indeed," the other said. "I find it odd that Piyotan died. Moreover, Noriko seems weird to me..."

"That's true that she was saying... eh... strange words," Saemonza added. "But for Piyotan, I'm sure that she had been murdered."

"Who would have killed her and what would be his or her motive, here's the real issue," Oryou said, tilting her head slightly. "From what I know, she did nothing wrong, she was very nice. I can't imagine anyone blaming her..."

"You're right, but sometimes people have grudge against others for odd reasons," Erwin continued. "But then, anyway, there are limits..."  
They continued to talk until they entered in the shed.

Their instructor arrived shortly after.

"Hello, Chono-san!" Anzu bowed.

"Hello, I'm sorry I was absent yesterday, I had some problems with an...indigestion" Ami confessed. "But now I feel better, and after a short theory session, you will get the tanks out and we'll train ourselves."

"But someone of our team and from another one is missing, will it be a problem?" Suzuki intervened. "Nakajima is not there and Piyotan is..."

"Well, I should be able to arrange for you to do something without her, I also learned about the death of Piyotan and-"

The instructor hadn't have the time to finish her sentence. She heard a strange noise from outside.

"What was that? Sounds like something fell violently..." Mako said.

"Oh oh oh oh oh..." Miho whispered, opening the door of the shed. "Excuse me Chono-san, I'll see what it is!"

"There's nothing wrong with it," agreed the woman with short hair.

The captain, walking around the hangar, saw something lying on the ground, a certain amount of blood, a human form, with short brown hair...  
Approaching, she realized that it was Nakajima, wounded in the neck by deep cuts, and her side... a dead white kitten.

Shivering, shocked by the sight of the corpse, she re-returned to the garage and turned to the others who were waiting.  
"So Nishizumi?" the instructor wanted to know.

"Nakajima... Nakajima is dead..." Miho whispered, almost in shock, struck by the death of the mechanician. "And... there was a white kitten with her ... dead too..."

A general shocked gasp filled the garage. Taeko almost fainted just by hearing the words "white kitten". Akebi and Shinobu comforted her as good as possible. Noriko, strangely, did nothing and seemed to enjoy looking at her friend's pain, which was not like her at all.  
Training continued without the deceased, her body and the kitten's were removed from the training ground and they continued their lives despite the death of Nakajima.

Erwin really started to worry. Two people dead, two kittens dead, all made her very concerned.  
While Oryou was driving the StuG, she braked suddenly.  
"Hey, what's happening?" Saemonza asked.

"There are four little cats that pass before us... look!"

The gunner saw that there were four light gray kittens, bigger than the first two. They had almost hazel green eyes. They seemed to live their lives quietly.  
"Did you just say 'four kittens'?" Erwin questioned , suddenly disturbed.

"Yes, yes, they are darker than the first two," confirmed the driver.

The blonde failed to choke with her own saliva.

"Don't crush them, maybe they're connected to someone's soul" Caesar presumed.

"Can you honestly see me crushing a cat under the StuG's tracks?" Oryou replied. "Well, now they are gone, I can go ahead."  
She pressed the accelerator and moved when she was no longer afraid to hurt or kill kittens.

On all the sides, the training was going well, except for the Duck team.  
Noriko behaved increasingly strangely. It wasn't her personality at all.  
"TURN!" she growled, her eyes widened, looking very irritated, that was not normal for her.

"But if I turn, it will crash into a tree!" Shinobu replied, not understanding the reactions of the commander.

"So accelerate!" continued the girl. "Go as fast as you can! And turn at the last moment, struck the M3 Lee, it will probably be knocked over!"

"But wait Noriko... is it really you talking? Because you would never want to cause an accident!"

"Shut up, Sasaki!" the short brunette thundered, still acting strange.  
She rarely called Akebi by her last name.

"I refuse to follow your indications", the driver opposed. "If it is for us to go off the road, it's not even worth it!"

Taeko dared not utter a word. She was afraid of the reaction of the short girl's reaction. She felt as her friend changed, as if something had suddenly reversed her usual behavior.

"Well, if you don't want to do what I tell you, I take your place!" Noriko angered, trying to push Shinobu from her seat while making a strange noise, some sort of growling.  
The latter, to defend herself, struck her a nudge in the teeth and sent her back, but the announcement of the end of the training was heard.  
Noriko, feeling something growing in her, laughed hysterically for no reason, which climbed the concern of her friends a notch.  
What was happening to her, exactly? Why did she so suddenly changed and her usual behaviour reversed?


	5. Chapter 4 : Oddness, Pallor

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
I've been sinking in school work and tiredness so it took a bit of time.  
But I'll soon be in summer break so I'll can write as much as I'll want !~**

WARNING : Contains a graphic scene.  


* * *

**Chapter 4**

"Dammit Noriko, what's happening?" Shinobu stirred after returning to school, more and more disturbed.

"Nothing, but you should have hit Rabbit team, they would be six feet under!" Noriko yelled, still laughing strangely, as if she was crazy.

"But stop, it's not you, I don't recognize you!" Akebi protested, tears in her eyes, ready to burst into tears.

"Of course it's me ! Listen, if you still contradict me, I make sure to detach a piece of armor of the Type 89 and I'll smash your head with it if I haven't already crushed your skull on its tracks! " the small girl threatened, like furious.

"You would never say that," Taeko said, feeling fear rising in her, her hands shaking.

She was very sensitive, like Akebi. But now, the mere thought of cats made her anxious.

"SHUT UP TAEKO!" Noriko shouted, trying to hit her, held by Shinobu.

"Well, stop now," whispered the girl with the ponytail. "You've done enough like that. We were supposed to save the volleyball club. Remember. You said it so often. And our motto, you forgot it? Our team spirit?"

"Let me go!" the one who was held growled. "This is your last night, you'll see!"  
Shinobu dealt her a blow to the back of the head. It knocked her out.

"Come on, let's bring her back to her room, we'll hide anything that might serve her to be dangerous to herself or to others."

"I agree," the blonde girl replied.

"Me too," the pinkish-haired murmured.

While they brought Noriko back to her dorm room and they were securing everything, from the side of the Anglerfish team, Yukari, who had come to Miho's after school, had a determined look.

"I'll take my little investigation. This is suspicious, don't you think?"

"Of course, these cats that appear and these people who are dying or completely change behavior... I feel like Noriko is going insane," replied the captain.

"I think I'll do a few searches. If I must go crazy as her, I prefer to have some information before."

"Take as many as you can, we must find a way to stop this!"

"I will, Nishizumi-dono! I promise you, I get to find something!"

"If you want, on my side, I will inform others while you you will seek out the information, it would be more interesting," Miho proposed.

"Great idea!" Yukari said. "I'll let you know, okay?"

"Yes!"  
Yukari went out from Miho's apartment shortly after, heading home, to prepare her plans.

The captain took a sheet of paper to note some assumptions. She, like her friend, wanted to solve this mystery and especially to end once and for all with these cats.  
She thought that if Piyotan and Nakajima were found dead next to a kitten and Noriko had a weird behavior after touching the little cat who had presumably killed the mechanician, it was because there was necessarily something behind this.  
The fact that Taeko and she do a lot of nightmares was also thinking that something was wrong with the cats, that these kittens were for something.  
About Duck team, she hadn't thought to ask Shinobu and Akebi. She just knew that Taeko was easily anxious because of the cats. In addition, she was maybe feeling guilty.  
Also, she hadn't asked Hoshino, Tsuchiya and Suzuki. She or Yukari would have to do it.

She spent the next few hours to think, write, try to imagine a track. Until going to bed, she thought, hoping not to nightmare that night.  
She slept for a few hours when a piercing cry woke her up at two in the morning.  
She heard someone screaming. A girl. She was afraid for her friends suddenly. She was even worrying for Taeko.  
She opened the curtains and looked outside. Nothing. The cry came from a little further. But it seemed to get closer and closer.

* * *

**WARNING : I don't like to cut off a chapter, but the following scene is graphic and violent, so you're warned.**

* * *

Finally, she could see Karina getting out from behind a building, her chest in blood, followed by Azusa. Azusa, who with a blank expression and looking crazy, was holding a boning knife in her hand.  
Miho no longer recognized Azusa. Why was she trying to kill one of her friends? The captain had to do something, and quick!

Outside, Karina struggled to stay alive. She had received several blows to the chest and abdomen. Her shoulders had also been hit.  
She was crying, crying for fear, crying for pain, struggling to breathe because of a blow that had probably pierced one of her lungs, coughing and spitting blood.  
She tried to run, in vain, she could do no more. She looked, in despair, for a place to hide and went behind a bush. She couldn't sit up and fell on her side.  
She could see Miho go down her home and running to her.

"Sakaguchi-san! Are you o0kay?" she asked, unpleasantly surprised by what she had seen.

"No, Senpai, Azusa attacked me..." the wounded replied in a weak voice.

"Why, what has happened?"

"Well... last night... a gray kitten with green eyes went into her room while I was there... she picked it up to put it out..."

Karina had a violent fit of coughing, then continued :  
"And then, this night, she knocked at my door, I opened... she had a knife in her hand... she chased me in my room, I went out... she pinned me... to a wall and pummeled me, I fled, but I feel so bad... I can't breathe, I feel myself dying... I don't, I don't wanna die... I... can't believe that Azusa did that... "

Miho wiped her teary eyes. She didn't like to see a tankery fellow like that, even if they didn't know each other very well, she felt bad for her.  
Karina's voice faltered as she spoke, a sign that she was not going to last long.

"Azusa... Azusa who is usually so caring... who always comforted us when we felt bad... who was so determined... I don't understand... that's not her... I can't... "

She didn't finish her sentence. Azusa came out from behind the bush, and in front of Miho's eyes, slashed Karina's throat, missing the artery.  
The latter, unable to produce a sound, looked desperately at the captain who stood there helpless, shocked, scared, who didn't dare moving.  
Miho felt she was about to cry when she saw Azusa stroke a fatal blow to her friend, near the heart. The blood spurted. Karina died instantly after having horribly suffered.

The mad girl licked her lips and glanced at Miho before leaving. The captain could hear a terrible hysterical laughter, and the crazy one began to mew in the same way.  
Behind Karina's body, there was a gray kitten. Killed in the same way. It had mysteriously appeared here.  
The Commander of Anglerfishes couldn't get a word on this horror. She felt terribly bad.  
She burst into tears there, beside the still warm corpse of the freshman, traumatized and plagued by a terrible feeling of guilt.

She went back to bed but couldn't sleep. When she closed her eyes, she saw Azusa killing Karina, she saw the blood, the desperate look of the brown-haired girl with blue eyes, and heard the cracking sound of her bones under the lunatic's fatal blow.  
She was still crying, she couldn't stop. She couldn't accept that she couldn't have done anything. 

* * *

The next day, when she went to school, the Rabbit team was mourning the death of Karina and wondered about the disappearance of Azusa.

Miho, even though she knew and had seen almost everything, had no desire to tell them what Azusa had become.  
All she knew was that Azusa left and went somewhere after killing Karina, screaming, laughing hysterically and meowing.

Tsuchiya looked odd this morning. Not that her stare was empty and looked completely crazy like Noriko, but she was strangely pale as if she was sick.  
The volleyball team didn't have their captain. They had locked her up the night before and would soon bring her something to eat. They feared, after what happened during the training, that Noriko does something dangerous or even tries to kill someone.

The others seemed fine. For the Mallard or Hippo team, or even the Student Council team, nothing seemed to have happened, except that Erwin began to worry because of the cats.  
"I had a nightmare last night," confessed the blonde to her friends.

"Oh?" Saemonza said. "Tell us?"

"I remember that I was holding a gun and I shot a few gray cats with green eyes... until they catched me. I was thinking about getting a weapon for defending myself in case of attack..."

"Good idea, but use it wisely," Oryou advised.

"Don't worry, I think she knows what she does," Caesar reassured her.

Leopon team had noticed the apparent tiredness of the Porsche Tiger's driver.  
"You're okay?" Suzuki asked.

"I have a headache, I think I'll avoid driving, I don't want to send you off the road," Tsuchiya told, her voice lower than usual.

"You know, if you're feeling sick, we'll tell Chono-san and take you to the infirmary," Hoshino advised.

"No, no, I don't want you to miss a training, I'm fine..."

"You still have a pallid complexion," Suzuki noticed.  
She touched Tsuchiya's forehead.  
"And besides, you're feverish", she ended.

"No no, it's okay, my neck is a bit stiff though, but I'll be okay, don't worry..."

"Tell us if you don't feel well," the girl with green eyes said.

"No, no, thanks, I'll get better..."

When the time came to go to class, Tsuchiya could not get up and collapsed on the bench. She felt too bad. She was too tired.

"Are you okay?!" Hoshino worried.

Hearing her, Yukari felt something unusual and turned her head. She saw everything from further.

"Nishizumi-dono, look!" she whispered to Miho.  
Miho turned and looked at what was happening.

The ill girl hadn't responded to her friend. She remained inert. She had fainted from fatigue.

"Her temperature has risen!" Suzuki moaned.

"We really should take her to the dispensary, we need someone to tell Chono-san that we won't be there!"

The girl with messy hair noticed Miho from far.

"Senpai! Can you tell Chono-san that we can't be there because Tsuchiya had a blackout?" she called.

"Yes!" replied the captain before leaving.

"Thank you!" Hoshino thanked from where she was. "Suzuki, help me to carry her."

While Leopon team brought Tsuchiya to the infirmary, the others went in class.


	6. Chapter 5 : Fear, Insomnia, Nightmare

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
It's so hot here. I definitely can't stand high temperatures. xD  
I'm very tired and I write as much as I can. My summer break is on June 27, so it's getting closer and closer.  
I'm writing the sixth chapter after translating the fifth.  
I think there's no really graphic scene in this chapter. But be careful though.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

After the class, Miho and her friends went out and went to the shed. There, they crossed Hoshino, alone, without Suzuki.

"How is Tsuchiya?" Saori asked.

"She was sent home, they apparently suspect meningitis," the mechanician sighed. "Why did she come if she didn't feel well?"

"Oh, you know, I don't think she wanted Suzuki and you being alone, you've just lost Nakajima..." Yukari said .

Hoshino felt her eyes getting wet and wiped them quickly.  
"Yes, we already have the pain of losing her, but now we have more fear of losing Tsuchiya, meningitis can be fatal, I dread to see her dying from that crap..."

"It would be really bad luck, losing two friends after an interval of two days, it's terrible to bear," Miho murmured.

"Besides, what we'll do for the Panzerfahren? If Tsuchiya dies, there will be only half of the team, two to drive a Porsche Tiger... It's so hard, even when we were four, we sometimes had difficulty because of the fact that it easily breaks, then if we're two, it would be harder... "

"On the Rabbit team's side, it's not brilliant either... Karina died early this morning and Azusa has disappeared," Hana revealed. "Azusa is apparently weird... And I'm not even talking of Noriko. Her friends locked her up and only come to feed and take care of her as if she was a dog or a patient in an asylum..."

"I know for Noriko, I saw Shinobu knocking her out, she has really changed, it's weird that in one night, her behavior had been completely reversed, it looks like it was the same for Azusa" Hoshino continued.

"We think that it has something to do with the kittens," Yukari intervened. "Miho and I are investigating."

"Moreover, can we ask you tomorrow? We will also have to ask Tsuchiya, we need maximum information about these cats," explained the captain.

"No problem," Hoshino agreed.

Miho felt bad for Hoshino. She had to endure the death of Nakajima with Suzuki. And now, she was afraid of seeing Tsuchiya dying.  
The captain found it strange that she had fallen ill after a kitten went into the Tiger Porsche. It was probably not the same. Whites were gone, now there were light grays.  
She was waiting for Yukari get some information. She didn't want to involve Hana, Saori and Mako in this case. She did not want them to take too many risks.  
One person enough, and as Yukari had volunteered, she investigated with her. But she was afraid that something goes wrong.

Shortly after, they entered the hangar.  
On the side of the Duck team, everything seemed empty without Noriko. But she became so violent that her comrades had to lock her in her room.  
Akebi seemed tense. Shinobu had a preoccupied look. Taeko looked odd, as if she ended up being afraid of her own shadow, always terrified at the thought of seeing one of these cats.

"After finishing, will we bring her something to eat?" Shinobu questioned.

"Yes, we wouldn't let her starve to death anyway," the blonde replied.

"I want to play a little volleyball, hoping to think about something else... but if we're 3, it would be complicated," Taeko sighed.

"Since she has changed... there's a void there, there's something missing," Akebi said.

"I can't believe this is her. I can't recognize her. This is not like her. And I think it has something to do with cats, I have nightmares, our senpai too, Noriko went crazy, Azusa has disappeared, Karina is dead, Nakajima and Piyotan too... ", Taeko told as on the verge of breaking down.

"I'll mistrust these kittens, they don't inspire me either," Shinobu stated.

"They're cute, but watch out!" the blonde ended.

Ami Chono arrived shortly after.

"Is it normal that a team is missing?" she asked, noticing the absence of the Leopon team.

"Yes, Tsuchiya's health is deteriorating and her friends stay close to her," explained Miho. "Does it bother you?"

"A little, but it seems that almost all teams have lost one or more members..."

Anzu intervened.

"I really don't understand what's happening. The day you were absent, we discovered two white kittens, then in the evening, Piyotan died, then Nakajima was killed strangely enough the next day and you were here, then once there were no more white cats, we found four light gray ones, and strangely that night Karina was murdered in front of Nishizumi-san's, Azusa had disappeared, it's a slaughter. Administratively, it is hard to manage."

"Oh, I understand... I wonder if I shouldn't give you a break to mourn these students," the instructor said, a sorry look. "Even though I had planned to spend this day for maintenance of tanks as one day out of two."

"Life goes on," Sodoko firmly made.

"You would not say that if one of your teammates died," Momogaa told.

"Oh, I hope I won't kick the bucket, who will eat all these dried sweet potatoes?" the president joked.

Miho didn't dare utter a word. She looked at her friends, worried. She was afraid for them. She feared their death.  
Maintenance of tanks passed almost in silence. A mourning, heavy silence under the weight of death.

* * *

Coming out of the shed, the Duck team went to buy something to eat for Noriko. They decided to eat together tonight once they had fed their friend.  
Groceries in hand, they walked to the dorm room of the Commander. Akebi had the keys and opened cautiously, letting the others inside and closing the door behind them.  
"Noriko?" she called.

She could hear a laughter in the bathroom. Always vigilant, she walked to the door and opened it.

"At last! I'm starving!" her friend exclaimed. "And I see nothing outside, as you all barricaded the windows with both of the girls over there!"

"It was to stop you from doing anything dangerous," Akebi said. "And follow me if you want to eat."

Noriko grabbed Akebi by the throat and pinned her to the ground.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO." she growled, strangling the tall girl.

"A..hg...ugh !"

Taeko heard her friend scream, and rushed to the lunatic and made her release her friend with a violent kick in the wrists. Akebi, relieved, stood up. She took a deep breath.

"I thought she was going to kill me," the blonde said, trembling.

"I wanna leave, I think I'm close to the breakdown," Taeko whispered.

Shinobu, who chose to stay away, put the canned sardines on the table. She felt bad about Noriko. She didn't like the idea of depriving her of liberty, she felt guilty about having to lock her friend up. But there was only this solution, otherwise she could be dangerous.

She emptied the can on a small plate and put a pair of chopsticks. She sighed and went away.

"Noriko? Come here, I put your food on the table."

No answer. Akebi and Taeko went out with an aggressive-looking Noriko, who at the sight of food, pounced on it, mewing.

"Let's go..." Shinobu whispered. "I'm afraid now."

"Yes, it is better..." Taeko said softly.

They went out and closed the door.

* * *

Returned home, Taeko broke down. She had seen that Akebi also was about to burst into tears and Shinobu began to scratch herself on the hips.  
They felt terribly guilty. Depriving Noriko of freedom and treating her as if she was a dangerous dog hurted them deeply.

She felt anxiety rising in herself. Upon returning, she saw a light gray cat with green eyes. It stared at her. She fled and directly closed the door, the windows, the blinds. Now she was in her room, alone, on her bed, in the dark, anguished.  
She was like when she saw the kitten in the Type 89. Her stomach hurted horribly. She curled up, tears in her eyes, sweating. She felt her intestines pricking, as if they were twisting. Her heart was pounding wildly. She felt a cold sensation, but not freshness. That was a nasty, stressful cold. She suffocated and gasped for air, unable to stand up, tensed. She was there, on her bed, having an anxiety attack.  
She could no longer bear this situation. Sensitive, she always had trouble when she saw her friends or someone else suffering.

When her anxiety attack was over, a few minutes later, she let herself falling on her sheets. She had only one wish: to sleep, to sleep forever, no longer seeing the others in this state, stopping waking up at night, Noriko changing back to what she was, ensuring that all of this was a dream...  
For thinking about something else, she turned on the television and watched a DVD.

* * *

Miho, meanwhile, was revising for the next day. She had a test and didn't want to get a bad mark. She went over her notes and read them several times in a row. It was hard for her to concentrate. Everything seemed disturbing to her. She stressed out a lot.  
Yukari would soon call her to give her news of their little investigation. She had begun her investigations and began by searching in the hangar.  
Miho's cellphone rang. It was an unknown number. She didn't notice it and answered.  
Strange noises sounded in the phone, as reversed meows, some sort of odd music behind, squeals and growls of cats.  
Frightened, the captain hung up and switched off her mobile. But then, a sharp and piercing noise pierced her ears, as a kind of tinnitus that gave her a headache.

Shortly after, the phone switched on without the action of the brown-haired girl; strangely shaped shadows roamed the walls, like cats, cats that mewed with their jaw dislocating, then the noise that gave headaches to Miho sounded again.  
The phone rang again. This time, it was Yukari. The phenomena stopped instantly.

"So, anything new?" Miho asked.

"Yes, I found some inscriptions on the floor, in a corner of the shed, there were some cat hairs on it. I took pictures, I'll bring them to you tomorrow," the bright brunette informed.

"You can read something?" the captain questioned.

"I don't know the language in which it's written, but there were three words, and I will give you a copy of the photos, I took them with my old Polaroid, the quality is not great but what is written there can be distinguished. "

"Okay. Anything else?"

"No, nothing to report, I'll ask Tsuchiya and her friends tomorrow, you can come if you want."

"It would be a pleasure, Yukari. But it depends on my schedule," Miho said.

"Okay! See ya, Nishizumi-dono!"

Yukari hung up. Miho put her phone on her table and continued to revise until she went to bed.  
But when she closed her eyes, she returned, once more, in a nightmare.

* * *

This time, she was out, in front of the hangar, where they waited before their instructor arrived.  
But it wasn't daylight. The sky was dark gray and red, light also appeared reddish to her.  
She was all alone, there was nobody in sight. She walked until someone tapped her shoulder.  
Karina, in the state she was at her death, pale, her eyes empty and veiled, spoke to her and proceeded somehow, like a zombie.  
"Seeen...pai... it hurts..." she said in a strangely low, slow voice.  
Other people arrived. Cats meowed.  
Piyotan, wild-eyed, her wound on the forehead, with a sickly smile, laughing out loud, approached Miho. Nakajima, her throat fatally injured and with the same stare as Karina, walked towards her.  
"Senpai, help me ..." the latter murmured in the same tone as the first year.  
All spoke in a low and monotonous voice. Miho was terrified.

"Meeeeoooow..."

The captain turned. Azusa, still holding her boning knife, stabbed herself. Behind, a drooling Saki was holding her stomach. A defaced Saemonza walked towards the captain, she was the only one with her normal voice, although distorted by the pain.  
"Senpai, I beg you, help me, she wants me dead..."

The voices ended up becoming entangled.

"Meow, meow..."

"Senpai, I'm in pain..."

"Senpai... I'm going to throw up..."

Miho screamed as they almost all began to meow in unison and a kitten jumped on her face, scratching her deeply and painfully.

* * *

She awoke with a start. She was afraid. These cats frightened her. They were the reason of her nightmares and Taeko's. It was really them. It was impossible in her mind that they weren't for something.  
Her phone rang again. It was Yukari.

"Yes?" Miho started, yawning.

"Did I wake you?"

"No, I just had a nightmare, it's been at least three nights since I have nightmares..."

"I can't get to sleep, I just can't sleep."

"Insomnia?" asked the captain.

"Yes, I think I get insomniac, but I haven't been in contact with a cat whatsoever..."

"You won't be too tired to investigate tomorrow?"

"No, I will do everything I can to stay awake. I don't have sleeping pills at home, what a pity," Yukari said.

They chatted for a while until Miho hung up. She felt too tired. She slept deeply, exhausted, no longer dreaming.


	7. Chapter 6 : Picture, Bite, Sickness

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
I'm finally in summer break ! :D  
I finally finished this chapter too. I think one of the scenes here is one of the saddest ones I've ever written... But I've written even sadder.  
Now I'm beginning Chapter 7 and I'll translate it when it will be finished !  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Yukari in the morning, went to school with a headache.  
She had a very bad night. Insomnia had cost her two-thirds of her sleep, so she had only slept for three hours.  
Despite her fatigue, she would still lead her little investigation. She had, in a folder, the photos for Miho and some notes.  
She also had to ask Tsuchiya at home on the evening. Hoshino and Suzuki would be there too.  
She arrived on time and joined Miho.  
"Nishizumi-dono!"

The captain turned.

"Yukari!"

"I have pictures for you," the bright brown-haired announced.

She sat on a bench, opened her bag, took out the folder and opened it, then handed the copies to her friend.  
There was, on the first photo, a corner of the shed where there were a lot of boxes. On the second, the cat hairs found. And on the third, in close, an inscription on the ground, as if it had been written by claws or a pointy object.

"It tells you something?" Yukari asked.

"It's Latin... but I don't know what that means, you shall ask Caesar. But then, is it a good idea to know what is written?" the commander replied.

"I'm asking her, I know she did several years of Latin in middle school and she greatly appreciated it, and then I'll take the opportunity to spend some time with the others."

"Otherwise, keep me informed, I think I'm available tonight to go with you to see Tsuchiya and the others," Miho said.

"Yes, Nishizumi-dono. Tell the others I'll be there just for the training, I'm going to spend some time with Hippo team!"

"Okay!"

* * *

Yukari walked away, the folder in her hand, to her history buff friends.  
"Hi!" Caesar greeted.

"How it's going?" the lively brown-haired questioned.

"Fine, fine," Erwin replied, almost extending on the bench, being the only one who was sitting.

"What's inside the folder?" Saemonza questioned, curious.

"You know, that matter of cats... I'm investigating on it with Miho."

"Oh?" Oryou made . "But you stick your nose in some business and you take notes?"

"I also take pictures," Yukari said. "Caesar, by the way, I need some help, what do these inscription mean?"  
She handed the photo on which the text was written to her friend.

"So_...'Kitty, follow her in death. You are two. White.' _"

"Looks like it doesn't have any sense," Saemonza mumbled. "This is all Greek to me..."

"Yes it has a sense," Oryou interjected, advancing slightly. "You just have to decrypt it."

Erwin rose and remained sitting.

"Well, it's not that hard, look, Piyotan was found dead next to a kitten, Nakajima also, it's like the kitten was somewhat connected to her..." she presumed.

"Maybe, at least I'll try with Miho to find a way to stop all that, I hope to get there without having to die," Yukari said.

"We do not want to lose you," Caesar replied.

The latter gasped when she felt something taking her right leg.  
A light gray cat with green eyes was biting her particularly hard.

"Oh, damn you!" she cried. "Clear off, dammit!"

She struggled and sent the animal flying against a tree. She was feeling a stabbing pain on her shin, where the cat bit her, and her wound was bleeding.

"You okay?" the bright brown-haired worried.

"Yes, yes," Caesar replied, holding her leg. "Ah, that damn asshole... it attacked me !"

"It threw itself on you?" Saemonza asked.

"Yes, I don't understand, I didn't see it coming..."

"We need to go disinfect it," Oryou said.

"I'm coming... oh, it hurts, it's almost like it was a snake that bit me..." the girl with the scarf moaned.

"Guderian, we have to leave, she has to be healed," Erwin warned.

"Yes, I go back to the others, all!" Yukari waved.

While the Hippo team took their friend to the dispensary, Yukari returned near the Anglerfish team.

"I come back earlier than expected, Caesar has just been bitten by a cat for no reason, they took her to the infirmary," the vivacious explained.

"Oh, but there's no problem!" Hana replied. "The important thing is that you're here and she has nothing serious, rabies can affect cats... You know if the kitty was drooling?"

"No, not to my knowledge, otherwise it would have put its saliva on Caesar and there was no trace of saliva on her leg, so it was certainly healthy."

"It's fine, so," Mako muttered. "But maybe she will be vaccinated after, for safety."

"It's possible," Miho said. "The training will begin soon, I think, if Chono-san isn't late or hasn't got an impediment. I hope that these pesky cats don't have touched her..."

"I don't think so, this seems to affect only the students of Ooarai, otherwise the teachers would have become crazy," Saori added. "And then it would harm the popularity of the school. I hope I won't have to touch these filthy cats and go crazy, which boy would want me?"

"Who knows if in Saint Gloriana or Saunders, or even Kuromorimine or Anzio, they don't have that same kind of cats..." Yukari murmured.

"It would be better not to know, in my opinion," advised the lethargic, still half-asleep.

This time, due to the absence of several teams, training was again canceled. It was maintenance, one time again. This had the advantage of better preparing the tanks.  
Now, two teams were absent and three had a deceased member. There remained, of the eight, three teams still whole or nearly complete.

Yukari worried. She worried for Caesar, for the others of the Hippo team, for her friends of Anglerfish team, for all those who were dear to her.  
She was afraid of ending up like Taeko, ending up to have anxiety attacks repeatedly, to be almost ailurophobic, never being unstressed, to be always on the alert, which was not like Taeko, who was so sociable and kind.  
She was afraid to see Miho, Hana, Mako, Saori, Erwin, Saemonza, Oryou, Caesar or all die, or even dying herself. She didn't want to leave this world, she loved this life, this earth, this sea on which the Ooarai ship advanced, her family, her Panzer IV and the other tanks...

When she had finished, she made an appointment with Miho not far from her home.

"We go to see her? We just have to know where they are... They should be ar Tsuchiya's," Yukari began.

"I have everyone's number, I'm calling Suzuki and I'll ask her..."

Miho took out her cellphone and looked in her contacts, then waited for an answer.  
The captain remained several minutes on the phone with the girl from Leopon team. She hung up shortly after.

"So?" asked Yukari.

"We have to walk in the opposite direction, turn on the right, take the second street on the left, this is the fourth door on the right," Miho replied. "Tsuchiya is at home, Hoshino took care of her when I called Suzuki, apparently she is very ill, they called a doctor but he has not yet come. She has the strength to speak, but must remain in the dark, she can't stand bright light. She apparently lost appetite too."

"Poor her... We shall really go there, maybe she won't last the night," Yukari suggested.

"Yes, here we go, Suzuki and Hoshino are waiting for us."

* * *

They walked in the direction indicated by their fellow. They would probably be able to learn more about this cat which went into the Porsche Tiger.  
They knocked on the door. Hoshino opened.

"Hi. Come in. Her parents are moving and can't take care of her, so that's why we're staying with her."

"How is she?" Miho asked.

"Every hour I feel that her condition is deteriorating," the black-haired sighed sadly. "Since this afternoon, she started having purplish red spots on her legs, these aren't pimples, but when I pressed on them, they didn't vanish... Her fever increased, she can't eat anything, she slept for a good part of the day. "

"This is bad..." Yukari muttered. "Where is Suzuki?"

"She's upstairs with her," Hoshino told.

"Can we go to see her?" Miho questioned.

"Yes, go ahead."

They climbed the stairs and pushed the bedroom's door.

It was dark, the curtains were closed, even if it was almost sunset.  
In the middle of the room, Suzuki was kneeling alongside Tsuchiya, lying on the futon, heavy, tired, worn-out by the fever.  
Her half-closed eyes were glazed, exhausted, representative of her pain. She was feverish and sweaty. There was a fan in the room and she had a light blanket over her.  
Suzuki looked at the three girls who arrived.  
"Here they are," she whispered to her bedridden friend.

"Hi Tsuchiya," Miho greeted. "We came to see you and by the way to ask you a few questions."

"You can not imagine how tired I am, I feel really bad," the sick girl said.

"You remember seeing a cat in the Porsche Tiger?" Yukari asked.

"Yes... a cat... white with blue eyes. It may be the one who bumped Nakajima off, she took it and it scratched her, I have just looked at its eyes and been in contact with the few remaining hairs on the seat, as I have cleaned it a little later."

"But now they are light gray with green eyes, aren't they ?" Miho made .

"Yes, I've seen them before falling ill, but they haven't approached our tank."

"I see... But since when do you feel bad?" the brunette with brown eyes continued.

"It's been almost two days since I touched the cat hairs, and at night, I had a little fever, and it hasn't stopped rising after... My neck hurts terribly, I barely can stretch my neck or bend it. "

"Do you think the cats are involved in something ?" the bright brunette added.

"I don't know and to be honest, I think I could have caught it in a completely different way... But perhaps those cats are for something. I don't know, as I said. All I know is that I'm sick as a dog and I don't have the strength to get up. Even for eating... I threw up two or three times today, I can't eat anything."

"We investigate, we hope to learn on how to stop this... curse, if it's the right word," added Miho.

"Oh... I see. I hope nobody else will end up like me."

"By the way, is anyone else in your environment sick too?" Yukari inquired.

"No, not at all. They all go well. I'm the only one who contracted a disease. Otherwise, everyone is healthy. I wonder if this is not the cat hairs that gave me that."

Tsuchiya, just after, turned to her friends.

"Hoshino, Suzuki, I must see you. I need to tell you something..."

Both turned, their eyes getting wet. They felt that something was wrong.

"Yes, we will come," Suzuki agreed, wiping her face. "Once they have finished with you."

The green-eyed nodded.

"Okay, we'll go," Yukari said. "We're with you three. Hoshino, Suzuki, we will ask you tomorrow."

"Goodbye and good luck, Tsuchiya," Miho waved while getting, tapping the ill girl's shoulder.

The latter turned her head weakly. She also tried to rise her hand.

"Senpai?" she murmured in a feeble voice.

"Yeah?"

"Thank... you," Tsuchiya whispered with a smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

When the captain and her teammate went out of the room, they were joined by Suzuki.

"I feel like she won't spend the night..." she said.

"At least she will have spent her final moments with you," Yukari replied. "She has been happy..."

"This is what we have to think," Suzuki whispered. "I don't know what to do, Hoshino either. We were afraid to see her die, but this is what awaits us, we will not let her die alone in her corner, it would not be nice to her... tomorrow, we'll see if she is still there... I hope she will recover by herself or that damn doctor arrives, we wait for him since about two hours and he's still not here... "

"Yes, see you tomorrow," Miho murmured. "Be strong, Suzuki."

They left shortly after. Both felt bad. Bad for Tsuchiya. They knew that this was the end. They felt it. Tomorrow, they wouldn't see her again. She would be gone. But gone where? They knew nothing. They just knew that the next day, she was no more here, this girl who was always having fun, smiling, and cheerful.


	8. Chapter 7 : Pact, Decease, Suicide

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Hello everyone, here's the chapter 7 of The Cats. c:  
Next chapter will arrive a bit less faster because I'll be at my brother's and I won't have many time to write. But I'll try to write and translate in the evening.  
WARNING : This chapter contains a graphic description in the end.**

**UPDATE 07/07/14 : I just watched the RAW version of the Anzio OVA (...without understanding anything they said because it wasn't subbed x) ), and I saw that I made a terrible mistake with Erwin's apartment and other things xD I'm going to rewrite this chapter after posting Chapter 8, which is about Taeko.**

**UPDATE 07/10/14 : Corrected my mistakes ! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Erwin spent a good part of the evening to wonder again about the same subject.  
She might want to think about something else, she couldn't avoid thinking about these cats. They disturbed her. She always had the fear of seeing one at the window or elsewhere.  
She had, after much research, found a gun in a cardboard box. Her father owned several firearms and she had stolen a revolver before leaving her house for the academy, being careful not to get caught with. There were also a few bullets.  
She had hidden it in a drawer of her nightstand and had promised herself to take it out only when she really needed, as in a case of attack or something.  
She was a boarder and her family didn't live on the ship. They remained in Tsukuba. In addition, they were often moving. She lived in a house on the ship with her friends, in joint occupancy. Living together was sometimes hard, but it was fun most of the time.  
She sat down, leaning against a wall of her room without a word. When she came back home, she threw her school bag on her bed and hadn't done anything but wondering.

Finally, the vibration of her phone took her out of her thoughts and she answered.  
"Yeah?"

"Hi. It's Caesar. I have to tell you something, come to my room, it's important."

"What happens?" the blonde asked. "And why do you talk to me by phone ? It's silly... we're in the same house !"

"You'll know when you'll come," her friend replied. "It's really urgent and I want that it remains stricly between me and you for the moment."

"Well, I'll be right there, I hang up and I come to your room, okay?"

"Yes, hurry up.."  
She hung up, hesitating. She wondered why Caesar wanted so much to see her and hadn't spoken of seeing the other two.

* * *

When she came to knock at the Roman buff's door, she opened. She had a tired and depressed look. Her injured leg was bandaged since the morning, she hadn't changed the bandage.

"Come in. Sit there," she said, pointing to her bed.

"What do you want?"

Caesar and Erwin sat down after checking that Saemonza and Oryou were not there.. The brunette was in her room and the other was reading a book on Bakumatsu period in another room.  
"I wonder if I won't get sick like Tsuchiya or go crazy like Noriko. I just want to end with myself if I start to go off the rails or feel woozy."

"What do you mean?"

"You told me you found the gun that you had secretly taken with you, right?"

"Yes, and?" Erwin continued, not really understanding what her friend was talking about.

Caesar put her hand on the shoulder of the other.  
"I want you to kill me if I attack you or if I attack Saemonza or Oryou," she whispered.

The blonde startled.  
"Y-you want me to kill you?"

"Yes, I don't want to do any harm or cause injury to others, so kill me if it's necessary, don't hesitate, shoot me down, aim well for making me die instantly. If I go mad, I'm screwed. Look at Noriko. You think I want to end up like her to stay locked in my room, with my friends who come just to give me something to eat because I'm too violent ? You think I want my windows barricaded, anything that might be dangerous removed? Or even look at Tsuchiya, do you think I want to contract meningitis and die? Moreover, I wonder if she will survive."

Erwin couldn't say anything. She lowered her head, unable to make her decision. She didn't want to kill Caesar, but said to herself that it was the only solution.  
"...I agree," she said, her head down.  
"Thank you, thank you, Feldmarshall..."

They remained some time talking until time to go to sleep. Then, they parted and greeted the other two before bedtime.

Erwin went to bed after watching a movie she had watched tons of times. She couldn't relax. Caesar's words echoed in her head.  
_"Kill me" _  
These words didn't leave her thoughts. She couldn't stop remembering them. She wanted to forget everything and to fall asleep.  
The next day, she would warn Oryou and Saemonza. She would tell them everything. Caesar's wish, the problem of the cats, she would have to talk to them.

* * *

The next day, before going to school, she talked with her flatmates.

"Hi, have you been able to sleep?" the tallest asked.

"Not really, what you asked me to do yesterday disturbed me a little... It gets better, anyway?"

"Yes, but it still hurts, I guess that's the bite that was strong."

"What she asked her to you?" Oryou repeated .

"Yes, she asked me something important, and I'm well.. still reeling from the shock."

"You can talk to them about it if you want," Caesar murmured.

"She asked me to kill her if she attacked you or me," Erwin confessed.

"But how could you kill your own friend?" Saemonza opposed.

"You know, I would have done the right thing, I don't want her to end up like Noriko or Azusa."

"It's hard though, I couldn't kill a friend," the girl with headband replied.

"Yes, but sometimes it's the only thing to do," the blonde whispered, closing her eyes.

From a distance, when they approached the school, she saw Yukari and Miho near Hoshino and Suzuki.

"I think you were right, Caesar..." Erwin said in a low voice. "I'll see. It won't be long."

* * *

She approached the four girls.  
"Oh, hi Erwin," Yukari greeted.

"What has happened?" she asked.

"It's Tsuchiya... it's over, she's in a better place now," Hoshino whispered, tears in her voice. "She passed that night, I can't stop remembering her last moments, I spent the night crying, it was horrible..."

"With deepest sympathy", Erwin blew.

"Shortly after Yukari and you went away, she began to be confused for like... thirty minutes, then after she began to tell us what she had to say," Suzuki told, stopping some times to avoid bursting into tears. "She told us to do what we could against these cats, so that no one would end up like her, Hoshino began to break down..."

Suzuki stopped and wiped her eyes.

"And... and not long after the fever has yet ascended... she was at least 104 or 105°F, she was almost delirious, it was monstrous, we spent our time trying to refresh her..."

Hoshino chose to take over.

"It was horrible. Truly. Seeing her like that... poor girl... Then she said something else, she probably felt that she was dying, she put her hand on mine and the other on Suzuki's, then fell apparently asleep in this position... on her left side, each hand on one of ours... she stayed like that until the end, about two hours after, we heard her last breath, we didn't sleep after, it was too much for us... her body will be brought back this afternoon, we gave the keys to that guy... he'll put them in the mailbox after. We have warned her family, they're prostrate with grief... Her parents will come tomorrow or the day after, they interrupted their business trip because of her death... especially since we have found a dead kitten beside her, but there was no cat in the house this night... "

Miho was tearing up. The testimony of Leopon team had deeply affected her. She visualized all in her mind while they were telling Tsuchiya's final moments.

Erwin was biting her lip. She did not want Caesar or any of her friends end up like that.

* * *

She returned to the Hippo team.

"So?" Oryou questioned.

"Tsuchiya is dead. It's horrible, I thought I was going to cry when Leopon team told us everything... and yet I cry so rarely."

"Poor her... It's a shame, she was so friendly, always trying to smile and have fun," Caesar added.

"She was certainly very sad," Saemonza remarked. "People say that the saddest are often the most cheerful."

"It's not possible to know, except if we ask Leopon team," Erwin said.

"Everything we retain is that she was so nice... I remember when she was joyfully repeating 'Driiiiifts !'... She didn't deserve to die in such a way, I imagine the pain she must have felt... just a little bronchitis we often catch in winter can exhaust me, " Oryou sighed. "So don't even mention meningitis... Peace to her soul."

"Yukari knows the seriousness of the situation. There is nobody else to prevent so. Nevertheless, we must be on our guard. These cats can be cute, you must be careful."

The bespectacled girl seemed to look further.

"Oryou-san, are you listening to me?" Erwin asked.

"Yes, of course, but this stuff over there disturbs me, I wonder what it is..."

Erwin turned her head. There was something odd close to a tree.

"That's weird... Come on, we'll see."

* * *

They moved up there and found something horrible.  
Azusa. Or rather her still warm body. She had an unnatural, not very sane expression. She was holding a boning knife with which she had committed suicide by stabbing herself under the sternum.  
Part of her guts were visible through the hole dug by the blade, but the internal organs weren't too much visible except if they were looking close. The history buffs preferred to not look inside.  
Her eyes, with a blank expression, were wide, her mouth formed a wide smile, and next to her...  
a light gray, green-eyed kitten, killed by a large gash in the belly.


	9. Chapter 8 : Six, Grey, Yellow

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Hello, here's chapter 8 :D  
I have some strange feelings after taking the high-speed train. I think my ears didn't like the 400 km/h speed : now I have trouble with balance, I have dizzy spells a lot.  
But I still can write. Plus, it's fading as the days go by, so I think it's just tiredness or some problems with my ears.  
Chapter 9 will come soon. c: Good reading.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Taeko felt her womb tightening up horribly, as if she was about to give birth. But she wasn't pregnant : her belly was normal.  
She stood near a hollow rock, outside, on the ship of the academy. It was dark, so dark... The sky was darkened, the clouds had turned red-gray, as if the earth atmosphere had changed color, as if it was no longer blue but actually very bright red.  
She still felt contractions in her belly. She heard something liquid falling : blood flowed from between her legs, mixed with water.

"How can I give birth... I'm a virgin and I can't be pregnant... huff.. what happens to me?" she worried, her voice distorted by pain.

She chose to hide of the glances in the rock.  
There, she had enough space to stay curled in having enough height to avoid the risk of banging her head.  
She felt a new spasm. She took a deep breath and pushed with all her strength, despite the pain, for at least hoping to expel the thing that hurted her...  
But nothing worked. She felt that the unknown thing she was giving birth to was scratching her from the inside. She had to get rid of that thing faster, otherwise she would die from blood loss.  
She continued to push harder, she wanted, she wanted to get that aching thing out of her body, yet she was bleeding, bleeding...  
She felt weakening as the work progressed. She hoped that it was almost finished : she began to see white lights everywhere.  
One last push, and then she felt something coming out. Then a wet and horrible noise sounded. She pulled away and inspected the thing she gave birth to.  
A dark grey furball curled on itself, stained with blood, began to move and met her gaze.  
Taeko screamed. It was a cat with yellow eyes. It uttered a shrill and strident meowing. A reddish smoke came out of its mouth. Behind, noises began to be heard. Incantations, words, and then she heard a scream and a defenestration.

* * *

She awoke with a start. It was 3 AM. She couldn't take it anymore. She was too scared. She didn't even want to dream once again of these cats. She still had a bellyache after her nightmare, as if she had really given birth to something. The pain was so bad that she had to prostrate herself, curled up on her bed in the middle of the night, short-winded, her heart pounding as each attack.  
She was unable to pronounce any word whatsoever. She could only moan. And even then. It was hard. She felt suffocating. Anxiety strangled her. Her throat tightened. She was hyperventilating. She was sweating terribly, her sweat was cold, as if her temperature rose. She wasn't sick, but stress was enough.  
Turning her eyes, she stared at the shadows on the walls; one of them seemed to be a cat. In fact, it was only a shadow from a tree. Seized with terror, she tried to close her eyes, but the feline silhouette seemed to appear before her eyes again, even with them closed. She wanted to flee. Far, far away. Yes, far away from those filthy beasts. No longer see them. Or even make them disappear, but she wasn't strong enough emotionally to kill.

She felt her contractions in her lower belly, even though she hadn't actually given birth. If everything was psychosomatic, it wasn't less painful.  
She wanted to cry for help, to be relieved of that state, but no sound could come out either. Nothing to do. Her chest pressed her terribly, her heart seemed to stop. She thought she would die.

When she had calmed down a bit, she grabbed her phone. She needed to talk. In her contacts, some numbers were here. Miho? No, she didn't want to disturb her Senpai. Noriko? No, she was too crazy. Akebi? She would not be strong enough. Shinobu? She would probably understand. She was very caring, despite her fierce appearance.

* * *

She therefore called Shinobu at night, at 3:15 AM, despite the hour.

"Come on... answer..." Taeko muttered, hearing the call waiting tone.

She thought her friend wouldn't answer when she heard a yawn.

"Why do you bug me at this time there?" Shinobu grumbled.

"I'm... I'm not fine at all. I need to talk. I just had an anxiety attack."

Her friend's tone of voice changed.

"Ah..." she said, shaken. "I'm sorry if I sounded rude when I answered... What happened to you?"

"I have dreamed of cats... I gave birth to a dark gray cat with yellow eyes... and then I heard someone defenestrating, I thought I would faint barely after waking up... "

"Listen, I don't want to stress you, but I think Miho-senpai and you have nightmares that have a link with the future. The next one would die from defenestration, if you follow your dreams' logic... But I prefer not to know that. "

"And the cats?" Taeko continued, her voice trembling and weakened by anxiety.

"I guess the next will be gray with yellow eyes, there were four light gray kittens with green eyes and three died, so the last to die is by defenestration or simply murdered like that, and then in my opinion there will be the dark gray ones, but I can not guarantee anything, it's only an interpretation. "

"You worry me a bit..."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, Shinobu. I know you didn't do it on purpose to scare me. Myself, I should work on my anxiety, I would have to learn how to control it, I can't let it spoil my life like this", the girl with dyed hair murmured, trying to smile.

"Don't exhaust you. Learn just how to control yourself. It might serve, you don't need to have a crisis in the classroom. We're lucky, tomorrow, there's no class."

Taeko felt better. She was more relaxed. She knew that Shinobu was listening to her. She would also have liked to talk to Akebi, but she was too afraid to hurt her by telling her about her fears.

"I really don't know how to thank you, you were able to soothe me..."

"This is the power of listening and counseling, Tae-chan. We see each other tomorrow? There we'll also go to see Noriko. Maybe we'll do some housework, I wonder if she can do it all alone... Oh no, it's true, we hid the cleaning products to avoid her poisoning herself or someone else."

"Yes, we will have to go there, but before that, one last question, do you think I should go to the doctor for getting tranquilizers?"

"I tell you, please avoid those craps, you could become addicted, I know about it. My mother had taken anxiolytics during a period of her life when she was very anxious as you, and she almost fell into addiction... Let everything go, don't worry, especially flee those meds like the plague, and who knows if you would go crazy and make a suicide attempt... "

"Don't tell me more, I think now I'm resigned to take anxiolytics. Thanks for your advice, Shinobu-chan. I think I'll spare myself."

"I don't have any grudge against you for calling me at this hour, after all, you're my friend, right? We can afford this kind of stuff."

"Well, I'll try to sleep, I don't bother you any longer. Good night, see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Tae-chan. Be strong. At least until tomorrow. I'll wait for you around 2:00 PM."

"I will come, don't worry. Kiss kiss. Sleep well."

She hung up. She was released from her immense fear and learned that talking to a friend could do her good. Not only she felt better because she knew she had learned something, but she had talked about her anxiety without fear of being belittled or ridiculed, or simply ignored.

She slept more quiet that night.

* * *

When she awoke a few hours later, she felt less anxious. Talking with Shinobu had done her good.  
It was ten o'clock. She got up and ate. She would go out this afternoon. She would see her friends. Give something to eat to Noriko and possibly do a little housework.  
Despite all, something managed to worry her. How would it be? Would Noriko try to kill Akebi again? Or was she even dead? She didn't know what her friend was able to do. Even a shock against a wall could cost her her life, this was what happened to Piyotan.

* * *

When it was time, she came to join Akebi and Shinobu outside. The three began to walk.

"Feeling better?" the latter inquired.

"Yes, really, thank you, I never thought talking to someone would do me so good!" Taeko was smiling, something she had not done for a few days, revealing her true nature, joyful and lively.

"What a pleasure to see you smile again!" the blonde said.

"I almost forgot how much I could be happy," the girl with the red hairband replied.

"I am glad I could cheer you up," Shinobu confessed.

"Anyone who would have listened to me and gave me advice as you did would have made me happy."

"Well, it's not everything, but we have to buy the food and bring it to Noriko," the tall girl with the ponytail added. "I wonder if she's okay."

"I'll stay away, I'm afraid she tries again to strangle me..." Akebi murmured. "I don't want to imagine what would have happened if Taeko hadn't heard me."

"You'd be dead by my fault, simply," the so-called said, closing her eyes. "Fortunately, my hearing is good."

"If you had been deaf, we would have been in a... delicate situation," Shinobu granted.

"Except I'm not and I could save Akebi."

They stopped at a bakery and bought bread. Noriko didn't need much. Bread and water were fine for her.

* * *

Then, they went to the apartment of their friend and opened the door.

"Noriko, we're here!" Shinobu called.

A roar replied. A low rumble, like a cat that was preparing to attack. But it didn't come from a cat.

"Noriko!" the tall girl called again.

The short girl came out from behind a wall, showing her teeth, with an inhuman gaze, ready to attack anyone who approached her. She had a bent posture, on tiptoes, her mouth open. Tears flowed from her reddened eyes, as if she had gotten sick or simply had her eyes irritated.

"Noriko, are you okay?" Akebi questioned, suddenly frightened.

"... Grrawhhrrr... miserable... unimportant... worthless..."

Noriko uttered these words in a low, muffled, hoarse voice.

"I want to kill... Kill... grrhhwww... gruuuwahhrrhh..."

"We have brought bread and water, will if be enough for you?" Taeko asked, pretending to ignore her disorganized talk and her grunts.

"Blood... I want YOUR blood... rrgrghhhhhrrrr..."

Noriko was glaring at her. Taeko brutally realized something. An eyesore. Something that might happen to her friends. She felt that her friend was going to attack one of them.

She turned to them, alarmed.

* * *

"RUN! Lock yourselves in the next room!"

The other two executed while the lunatic was running to her prey. Taeko was ready to flee. She felt her heart speeding up and her legs preparing to run away. She was afraid of Noriko, now.  
She dodged the attack on her friend who tried to jump on her. Once, twice, then the mad managed to press her prey to the wall on the third time. She took the maroon-haired by the throat, pressing her nails into her neck, choking her, squeezing her. Taeko immediately began looking for a sharp object. She didn't find one.

_"You're had it! Come on, do something, or you'll die!"_

She had only one solution. She kicked Noriko's legs. She got unbalanced and let her friend go. Taeko coughed several times after her neck was free again. But her friend didn't surrender. She continued to pursue her in the apartment, overturning furniture, smashing things, hurting herself.  
Taeko bumped against a wall and felt a pain in her right arm. She had probably made a hematoma. But that didn't slow her; she was too scared to worry about it. Her leak instinct took over. However, she didn't wanted to bring Noriko outside the room, fearing that she goes to attack someone else.

"Grrrhhhwww... your life... I want your life!"

Taeko dared not utter a word. She opened her mouth and nothing came out. She wanted to speak but could not. She could only do one thing, run, run away from the mad girl, run away from that danger, or defend herself if necessary.  
Suddenly, she felt something grabbing her painful arm. Her friend was faster than her. She had caught her. She clung to her right shoulder, which ached.  
Feeling the pain, Taeko's instinct took over again over and she kept running, beating against a wall trying to get rid of the crazy one, accelerating, turning around in the room, exhausting and getting breathless gradually, until her attacker let her go. However, she was still standing.

"I'll get you.. I will uproot your life..."

Taeko moved just when the short girl was charging at her.  
Noriko, carried by her weight and speed, went through the window. Blood spurted. The pinkish-haired heard a scream, then less than a second later, a heavy fall with bone cracking.  
Taeko gasped and felt her eyes fill with tears when she looked down.  
Noriko was on the edge of the road, laying down, her face scratched by a few pieces of glass. Blood stained the asphalt under her head and back.

* * *

Shinobu and Akebi opened the door just after the defenestration.

"She threw herself?" the blonde inquired.

Taeko replied with a nod. The three rushed downstairs.

Noriko had been killed instantly. She hadn't survived the fall. Her head hit the ground, breaking her neck and back on impact. She was bleeding from the mouth and still had visible tears. However, her eyes were less bloodshot. Blood was flowing from her left side, the one on which she had fallen. She had some cuts on the face, especially on the cheeks and cheekbones. And at her side, a light gray, green-eyed kitten killed in the same way, defenestrated, surrounded by broken glass.

"No... she can't..." Shinobu whispered, shocked.

She couldn't take her eyes away from the still warm corpse of their teammate and friend, the one who gave them the wish to revive the volleyball club, who was the leader of their team.  
Akebi wept. She couldn't bear the vision of Noriko's death, her lifeless, motionless body on the road. She still loved her, even after she attempted to her life. She would have forgiven her for anything.  
Taeko, without shedding a tear, her heart still pounding strong, stood dumbfounded. She felt guilty deep down. But she was only defending herself and knew it. Nonetheless, anxiety and this horrible feeling of guilt took her to the guts and she had to crouch.

A moving dark gray shape attracted their attention. It was a cat. A dark gray cat with yellow eyes. It crossed the road after throwing them a look, followed by five others who followed in single file.  
Taeko turned pale and missed to faint. The view of cats and Noriko's death after a long period of stress was too difficult emotionally. She fell to the ground. It was too hard for her.

"You're not feeling well?" Shinobu worried.

"I'm... I'm fine... I just saw cats crossing the road... you got it right, they are gray with yellow eyes. And I..."

They heard meowings in the street behind. Taeko couldn't stand any other cat. Everything turned black as she lost consciousness and fell on Akebi.  
The shock of Noriko's death, the feeling of guilt deep inside her, anxiety, the fear of dying, all was too much for her.


	10. Chapter 9 : Paranormal, Berries, Mistake

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Hello everyone, here's Chapter 9 of The Cats !  
It took me long. Now I'm okay. I had a bit of writer's block too. And I'm so relieved to have nothing serious.  
It was apparently my eyes, not my ears. Because I was back to the engine, I was seeing the landscape in reverse and my eyes didn't like it. xD  
I'm not very good at making original death scenes. But I try my best.  
Chapter 10 will come soon, see you in a few days, potato ! *hugs***

**WARNING : Contains a graphic scene.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

On her side, Miho continued to gather information.  
On the notepad on which she had placed the sheet containing her assumptions, she noted what Yukari had noticed. She put the copies of the photos inside.  
The Latin inscriptions, the deaths, clear white and gray cats, the dates of the deaths, everything that could be useful in solving the mystery was written down.  
She was doing a report on the day when her phone rang.

It was Hana.

"Yes?"

"Miho-san? A weird thing just happened to me..."

"Really?"

"Yes... can I tell you?"

"Go ahead."

"Well, I was doing a flower composition while warming me a plate when my microwave turned off by itself. Then after, it was as if all the fuses of the floor had blown, the TV, my computer, all that was electric turned off.  
And right after I heard meowing in my head, it was some kind of tinnitus, it resonated in one of my ears, then in the other, it was driving me crazy, it was really horrible... Then it had gone as quickly as it came after ten minutes, and everything went back in order and turned on again... "

Miho was surprised.  
"Are you sure you did not make..."

"No, I didn't touch anything, and I swear, everything happened very quickly, I haven't really understood what happened to me..."

"It's weird..." Miho muttered. "You're sure you did nothing that could disabrupt something?"

"No, I really haven't done anything," Hana continued.

"We should watch out though, if it happens again, you'll have to tell me, I will arrange with Yukari to find the cause of this..."

The conversation continued on the same subject. Hana didn't really understand what had happened to her. Was it the cats, or at least something caused by those cats?

When she hung up three hours later, she had already filled three pages for this day. She had gathered a lot of information throughout her telephone dialogue. Tomorrow, she would tell Yukari.

* * *

For the Rabbit team's part, the deaths of Azusa and Karina had affected the entire small group. There were only Saki, Aya, Ayumi and Yuuki remaining.  
For thinking of something else after their loss, they were gone camping under the stars. Even if they would have school the nexy day; homework had been made in anticipation of it all.  
There, they were all sitting around the fire, without saying anything, with a grieving look, thinking about their two missing friends.  
They didn't understand. Why had Azusa lost her mind and killed Karina before committing suicide? They still couldn't be arrived at the idea that tomorrow they wouldn't see again their two friends. They were waiting for them each day; they hoped to see this adorable blue-eyed girl with the dark brown-haired one who was their confident, they hoped that everything would change, everything would be back to normal, they could again drive the M3 Lee together, that they could laugh together once again...

The one who seemed to be most affected was Ayumi. Usually very bright and boyish, she was now almost as quiet as Saki. Depressed, she had no more fun in nothing, especially since the death of the one who had gone insane. Both deaths had opened a terrible wound in her heart. She was humming a song, a melody which reminded her of those two.

Aya tried to think about something else using the Internet. She didn't suffer as much as her friend; she was thinking that with a distraction, the pain would be less hard to bear. In vain; when she was thinking about Karina or Azusa, she wanted to cry. She could connect or get more addicted to her phone, nothing worked, so she left her phone in her sleeping bag.

Yuuki had withdrawn into herself. She could barely speak to someone. Just to her friends, and even. She could stay with them but didn't want to say anything. She suffered greatly from the loss of her two friends too.

Saki remained quiet. She wasn't thinking clearly. She hadn't, however, been in contact with the cats. But she suffered a lot too. She was like between life and death. She raised the question of whether to stay alive or to join Azusa and Karina. She weren't allowing herself to feel sadness anymore. She had never been a demonstrative person, so she was hiding her pain as much as possible.  
She stood up and looked away.

"Where are you going?" Aya questioned.

"I don't feel well."

"Wait, you have a weird look, are you okay?" her bespectacled friend worried.

But Saki did not listen.  
Her mouth was dry for some time already.  
She realized that she felt oppressed and she was drooling. Also, she had pain in her muscles and had more and more difficult to move.  
Yet she had eaten nothing unusual.  
Ah...or maybe yes. These berries...  
Cherries, right? Maybe the color...  
No, it was cherries. She hadn't eaten anything toxic...  
to her knowledge.  
In the dark, she seemed to have seen the color of the berries... Black, red? Dark red? Yes, she was sure she saw dark red.

Confusion had been creeping over her for a few hours already.  
Oh? Since when?  
Since she had eaten two or three of these berries.  
She couldn't focus on anything.  
She felt sick. She couldn't see very well where she was going. But when she thought of going back, she almost forgot what she wanted.

In fact, she was going round and round.  
She didn't even know in which direction she was going.  
She was feeling hot and feverish. But it was fresh outside.

"Hey, are you okay?" Aya continued.

She didn't answer. She was too confused to listen. And suddenly she seemed to stumble... and fell down.

"Saki" Yuuki exclaimed, surprised.

"What happened?" Ayumi said, brutally leaving her drowsiness.

"She had just fallen," the girl with glasses replied. "She told me that she wasn't feeling good..."

* * *

While the Rabbit team took care of Saki, Yukari, on her side, had retired to her room.

Her parents were sleeping and she was still awake, although it was late.  
She held in her right hand a hunting gun that had been here for a while and to which nobody was paying attention. She wanted to ensure that her parents would know nothing. So she was always careful.  
She had plans to kill a cat by shooting it to eventually eliminate the possibility that someone dies or goes crazy. But it would require the presence of a cat, lots of vigilance, that she had her weapon with her...  
Everything was complicated, but she wanted to complete her research. It was hard for her to imagine herself killing, but she thought that it was for good.

A noise outside caught her attention. She wanted to know what it was and went out quietly.

* * *

She took her hunting gun and stationed herself near a trash can.

It was the Rabbit team. They had their heads down, talking in a low voice. Many were crying. Saki was missing.

"Oh, Akiyama-senpai?" Aya noticed the brunette.

"Yes? I came to see if everything was okay, I heard noise and I was preparing to intervene if there was any bad situation... If someone for example was planning to steal tanks or if there was a cat... " the bright one explained.

"We saw a cat not long ago, we were going camping tonight but we finally cancel everything..." Ayumi whispered.

"Where's Saki?" Yukari asked.

Ayumi burst into tears. Yuuki spoke in a trembling voice.

"She's dead..."

"What?" the vivacious startled.

"She ate berries, you know, these kinds of small black cherries... she confused it with something else in the dark, probably..." Aya told. "It was belladonna..."

"But didn't you notice anything unusual?" the brunette questioned, still incredulous.

"Yes, she told me she wasn't feeling well and she went away, but she walked as if she was going nowhere, and she collapsed..." the blonde girl with twintails continued. "We took her to the hospital, but it was already too late, they were unable to bring her back..."

Yukari felt her heart break. She imagined the pain that the freshmen had to experience losing Saki, the worrying feeling when she began to show strange signs, everything...

"I'm terribly sorry," she sighed. "Three friends dead just days apart..."

"Yes, and it's the same for other teams, we learned that Leopon team had lost Nakajima, then Tsuchiya and in a very short time..." Ayumi said, wiping her eyes.

"I wonder when it will stop..." Yuuki whispered.

"Nishizumi-dono and I are conducting research to find out where it comes from, we have already collected a bunch of informations."

"From where do these cats come, then?" Aya asked.

"No idea. It wasn't yet determined. We just know that touching or staring at their eyes leads to madness or death."

Yukari didn't want to say too much. She wanted to keep some of the investigation secret.

Aya looked up and saw a shadow under a streetlight a little further.

"Akiyama-senpai?"

"Yes, Oono-san?"

"There is a cat over there..."

Yukari looked in the direction indicated by the girl with twintails. A feline silhouette, dark gray with yellow eyes, was dressing in the light of the streetlamp.

"Let me try something, hoping that it won't harm anyone..." the vivacious brunette murmured.

She walked slowly, taking her gun, to the animal which did not seem to worry. She stationed not far away, hidden in a bush, and aimed.  
She couldn't believe that she would kill it. But she had to gather information. And this could possibly save someone from madness or death.  
Five, ten minutes... The cat finished licking itself and started to walk away, facing the gunner, its eyes shining in the night's darkness.

Yukari pulled the trigger.  
The shot went off.  
The cat received the bullet in the chest and fell to the ground, lifeless.

* * *

**WARNING : Graphic scene.**

* * *

A weak cry, however, sounded.  
But it wasn't the cat.

Yuuki was holding her ribs and slowly fell to her knees, a terrible and deep wound in her chest. But she hadn't received the bullet. She screamed, falling, tried to catch her breath, then finally collapsed on the ground. She was still alive, but would probably not last long. It was as if Yukari had shot her.

The girl dropped her weapon and ran to the Rabbit team.

Yuuki was on the pavement and had lost a lot of blood in a very short amount of time.  
The injury in her sternum, near her heart, was bleeding.  
She was getting noticeably paler.  
The road was blood-stained, the stain was gradually getting bigger and bigger as the girl was losing her vital red fluid.  
Her two friends were kneeling beside her and tried to do something, in vain.

Ayumi glared to the bright brunette. Aya put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yuuki, I'm terribly sorry... I..I wasn't meaning to kill you..." Yukari apologized, feeling the guilt creeping over her.

She felt horribly bad. She had killed Yuuki. Even if she hadn't do it on purpose.

The injured one looked at her.

"Akiyama-san... You couldn't guess..." she said in a feeble voice.

"I'm sorry, Yuuki...  
Yukari began to cry.

"...forgive me..."

The voice of the wounded weakened like Karina at her death.

"...I forgive you..."

"I beg you, hang on! We'll take you to be examinated...you'll be better soon..." Ayumi said in despair, shaking the arm of her friend.

"Both of you... you know.. that I lo..ve you... I'll look after...you... I wouldn't...h..have died... in..vain."

Yuuki's stare was getting blanker and blanker...  
She was almost bloodless...  
She could hear her heart...  
She was slowly passing out...  
And then, a few minutes later, she let out a gasp...  
then another...  
...and finally stopped moving.

Ayumi closed her dead eyes, then turned to Yukari, enraged.

"You... You killed her, you BITCH!"

She tried to hit the brunette but was held by Aya.

"Calm down... she wasn't meaning to kill her... even Yuuki has forgiven her... I beg you, calm down ..." the blonde murmured.

"I'm so sorry..." the brunette apologized again.

"At least, as she said... she won't have died for nothing," Aya said, feeling her tears flow.

"And we have class tomorrow," Yukari sighed. "The day will be long... Good night and good luck.. I'm with you."

"Good night, Akiyama-senpai. I don't blame you. You couldn't guess that killing the cat was also killing Yuuki..." Aya whispered.

Yukari waved to the remaining two of the Rabbit team who were carrying Yuuki's body, then took her gun and went home.

* * *

She could, once again, not sleep that night. Whenever she sank into sleep, visions of Yuuki's final moments were returning to her. Her blood. The terrible wound near her heart. The unstoppable bleeding. Her last words. Her last breath. Her friends' reactions.

She was also seeing the other, those which she had seen the body or seen dying.

Piyotan.  
Tsuchiya.

Those she had learned of the death.

Nakajima.  
Azusa.  
Karina.  
And just recently, Noriko and Saki.

She couldn't remove the vision of the poor girl being emptied of her blood, little by little, and could not silence the _"You killed her, you BITCH!"_ from Ayumi.

She felt guilty. That was it. Guilty. Horribly guilty. Yet she knew she didn't intend to take the girl's life. But she had now Yuuki's death on her conscience.


	11. Chapter 10 : Revelation, Quarrel, Guilt

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
WOW this is the longest chapter I've written so far xD  
Here's chapter 10. A lot of things happen during this one, that's why it's so long.  
I hope you'll like reading this. :D It contains a bloody scene and maybe one of the saddest I've ever written...**

WARNING : Contains a graphic scene, this time I won't warn you because I really hate to cut off the story.  


* * *

**Chapter 10**

"You did what?" Miho said, surprised, unbelieving.

"I killed her ... But I didn't mean to, I didn't know that killing cats also kill people..."

Yukari had told the captain about the incident of the night. She continued to blame herself, despite Aya's compassion. However, she hadn't seen Ayumi and hoped nothing happened to her.

"At least we know that killing a cat will kill the person to whom it is apparently connected, but there is no way of knowing who it is..." the commander sighed.

"We need to find a way of knowing that."

"Except that it may be very complicated, it seems to reside in the cats themselves, so I don't know if this is within our reach," Miho contnued.

"Oh, you know, anything is possible, it's always findable somewhere," Yukari replied.

"Do you think we should risk our lives? We ourselves may be connected to cats..."

"Maybe, but if there's no way of knowing, we might as well look," the bright girl carried on.

"Already the fact that we know that killing a cat will kill someone is already a big step."

"We were 32 in Tankery club... now we're only 24. We already lost 8 people and 8 cats died... Starting with the white, which took Piyotan and Nakajima away, then the light grays, which carried Karina, Tsuchiya, Azusa and Noriko away, and now we have the dark grays, and they already killed Saki and Yuuki... "

Their conversation got interrupted by Saori, followed by the rest of the small group.

"Miporin, can we go to your flat tonight?"

"Ah, yes, if you want!" Miho accepted, somewhat destabilized.

"I will make the food, like the first time we have been with you," the ginger told.

"I remember you were cooking very well," Hana intervened.

"Indeed," Mako muttered. "I think once I'll be in your apartment, I'll lie on the bed and I won't get out of it."

Miho giggled.

"Ah, Reizei-dono..." Yukari sighed, smiling. "If you weren't there, something would be missing."

* * *

They entered in the captain's apartment. As she said, Mako laid on Miho's sofa bed.

"So tiring day..." she mumbled.

"Mako, Mako, Mako..." Miho chuckled, amused.

"I was going to die within the five minutes if I didn't lay down," the sleepy girl continued, her pose remaining unchanged.

"Hey, what's this?" Saori questioned, picking something.

Miho saw that she was curious about the box in which she kept her notebook.

"Oh, that's my research with Yukari to know what happens with cats, we gather information," she replied.

"Why didn't you tell us?" the ginger-haired grumbled.

"Because Miho didn't want to get you three involved in that and I volunteered first", the brunette spoke.

"She doesn't want us to risk our lives," Hana said calmly.

"But you risk yours!" Saori moaned.

"Yes, I risk my life, but Yukari too, and we do it for a good cause..."

"I'll say good luck in any case," the girl with contact lenses finished, laying the box on a shelf. "And you too, Yukarin."

The, they spent the evening together.

When her friends went away, Miho slept almost immediately after taking a shower.  
But the night wasn't as relaxing as she imagined and she didn't think she was going to learn something crucial.

* * *

_Miho was somewhere on the school's tankery training ground, not far from the bridge where she had been during the first training battle. In fact, she was rather behind to where the M3 Lee got stuck.  
Her hair waved in the wind, which was stronger at times. It was nighttime. The crescent moon illuminated the girl's face.  
She began to walk, sometimes straight, sometimes in circles. She didn't know where to go. In addition, she didn't know what she was doing there. _

_There were only a few stars in the sky. To kill time, she had fun counting them.  
...Oh ? Only eight stars were visible..._

_She heard a voice calling from behind._

_"Hey, Senpai!" _

_She turned back._

_It was Tsuchiya. She wasn't looking ill anymore: she was as if she was still alive, in good health. Her complexion was normal, her eyes too, she no longer had this feverish look, this exhaustion, this fatigue. Miho remembered when she was very sick, on the verge of death, and when finally she learned about her passing..._

_"Tsuchiya?" _

_"Yes, that's me. I feel better, you know, since I left this world. But I wanted to warn you." _

_"Warn me of?"_

_"The situation will deteriorate from tomorrow evening. Houses will burn, there will be a lot of damage and many losses... I can't yet say how many, but the cats will hit hard tomorrow. There will also be a storm. "_

_Miho startled. _

_"But... how do you know all this?" _

_"I'm already dead," Tsuchiya said. "I can know what will happen. We know, since we watch over our friends and family from the heavens, about your investigations with Yukari, and we want to give you information to avoid larger losses... and besides me, there are some people who would like to talk to you. "_

_"Who has something to say, except you?" _

_"Noriko and Karina." _

_"I would like to see them", Miho murmured. _

_"Well, okay," agreed the mechanic. _

_Shortly after, the captain of the volleyball team appeared while the girl from Leopon team faded in a twinkling. She had regained her sanity and had a normal appearance, like Tsuchiya._

_"Senpai, madness is caused by the cats... I realized it when I took that filthy beast of the Type 89 when Taeko was having a panic attack. I felt an odd feeling in my hand, and it hadn't left me until the evening. The next morning, when I woke up, I had a mad wish to kill. "_

_Miho gasped in shock._

_"They possess you, in a nutshell?"_

_"That's what I understood. I would never have tried to kill Akebi and Taeko normally. But at this time, I was totally out of control. Actually, from the morning after my contact with cat to my death, I couldn't control myself. I hit myself, I needed to hurt someone, even if it was meaning harming myself. "_

_"And they didn't tell me how you were dead...?"_

_"I wanted to kill Taeko, in fact. I chased her for a quarter of an hour in the apartment, she was terrified, I feel bad, now... Then, in a moment, she was right behind the window, I wanted to push her and I charged into her, but she shifted at the last moment and I went through the window. The fall alone killed me. "_

_Miho failed to choke. She had a vision of what had happened as if she was here at the time. She saw all : the falling Noriko, Taeko's horrified expression, the flying pieces of glass, and finally heard a thud and bone crunches._

_"That's.. that's terrible!" she said. _

_"Indeed. Well, I leave you, Karina is waiting to talk to you do, don't touch the cats Your suspicions were correct: touching them can drive you insane and will condemn you to death." _

_Noriko disappeared in the same twinkling as Tsuchiya.  
The one the captain had seen in her last moments appeared at the same spot.  
Karina was also in her normal state; she was no longer injured, it was as if she had never been attacked and killed by Azusa._

_"Miho-senpai!" she greeted cheerfully. _

_"Isn't it too hard to see your whole team going up here with you?" _

_"No. But I'm worried about Aya and Ayumi," Karina confessed. "Now that Yuuki is dead, they are no more than them both. And they suffer even more than when they learned my death and Azusa's... "_

_"You wanted to tell me something other than that?"_

_"If someone goes mad, the only way to get rid of the madness would be death. I don't know much about the subject, but Azusa was driven insane from shortly after she touched the kitten to when she committed suicide. Now that she had died, she's perfectly sane. It's hard to believe it, but one must kill anyone who gets mad. I don't know if madness is transmitted, but one is never sure of anything. "_

_Miho felt her heart sinking. And if one of her friends lost her mind? She would have to kill her. There would probably be no other choice. _

_"Yukari has taught me that if a cat is killed, someone is killed too, and that she made a mistake..." _

_"Yes, she killed Yuuki this way, but at least you both know now." _

_Karina closed her eyes_

_"Otherwise, I want you to tell something to Aya and Ayumi."_

_"You want me to say?" _

_The short girl re-opened her eyes. _

_"Tell them I love them stronger than anything. And most importantly, that they shouldn't feel bad. From here, I see everything. I see how Ayumi goes wrong. She isolates herself, spends all day against a wall in her bedroom and you have to force her for getting her outside. Aya eats almost nothing since Yuuki had died."_

_"All right," the commander agreed. "I tell them. Even if it means that I'll be considered as a mad girl." _

_"Thank you, Senpai. I have something for you. I learned that for protecting you, there was some sort of spell. But you can do it only on yourself. These cats are very powerful."_

_"Oh?" Miho said. "But I've never practiced magic." _

_"It's simple.. You must have some salt or a thorny branch on yourself. These cats are demons. But I'm still not sure about everything. When in doubt, don't tell anyone." _

_Karina looked back. The light passing through the trees' leaves revealed her semi-transparency. _

_"Oh, it's already dawn..." _

_She also disappeared in a twinkling while Miho, when a ray of sunshine lit her, fell in a dark world... before hearing a ring tone she knew well.  
_-

* * *

Miho woke up and turned off her alarm.

She was feeling strange, as if her soul really went away for the night.

Yet, she just slept.

She looked on the table: a small branch of rose, enough to fit in her bag without damaging anything too much and a piece of paper were placed there.

She picked up the note and returned.

_'Do not forget to tell them, Senpai. I made you a small gift. - Karina Sakaguchi-san'_

She gave a little smile. She grabbed the thorny branch without stinging herself and put it in her bag. Then, she got ready to go to class.

* * *

Along the way, she found her friends.

"Miporin!" Saori bowed.

"Hi girls!" the captain replied.

Miho noticed the absence of Yukari.

"You know where is Yukarin?" she questioned, suddenly worried.

"She told me she had had a very bad night. She will probably be late," the ginger-haired said.

"It is also important that I talk to Aya and Ayumi. I have something for them."

"You got something to say to them?" Hana spoke.

"Yes, I was visited by spirits that night, and Karina has asked me to convey a message."

"Basically, now, you're some kind of dead people's messenger," Mako muttered. "I have a headache and there's no more aspirin."

"Somehow..." Miho replied.

Miho didn't mention the small branch of roses she had hidden in her purse for protecting herself. Although she was worried about her friends, she wanted to follow the freshman's directions.

She noticed that the sky was cloudy. However, the weather was expected to be sunny. This seemed a little strange to her. But sometimes the weather report was wrong. To persuade herself that she wasn't thinking that the cats were involved in something, she said to herself that it was an error of the forecasts.

* * *

By far, the Hippo team arrived.

If Erwin, Oryou and Saemonza had a normal expression, Caesar seemed stressed. Her pupils were retracted, she had a tense and unsure look, contradictory with what she usually was.  
She had exactly the same expression as Taeko when she heard about cats. An anguished expression, as if she was attacked from everywhere.

As she walked, she seemed to pay attention to everything, as if she feared to crush something valuable. It was really unusual compared to usual.

Yukari came at the same time. She looked tired. She had, indeed, had a rough night with remorse and guilt.

She joined her Anglerfish team friends, bringing the Hippo team with her.

"Nishizumi-dono, I spent a terrible night, I'm sorry.."

"The word is weak, I had a worse night," Caesar whispered.

"It is true that I heard you kicking into the walls," Erwin said.

"You're not going well?" Miho questioned.

"I just had a restless sleep, stop harassing me with questions!" the girl in scarf digged her heels in.

The captain was surprised.

"But I asked you only one question!"

"Regardless, stop attacking me with it, or I will quarter you!"

"Calm down, Caes..." Oryou began, her voice weakening in the end of her saying as she was wheezing.

She had no time to say her friend's nickname that she was seized with a violent fit of coughing, as if she was choking or something.

"Are you alright, Oryou-san?" Saemonza worried.

"I'm okay... just another one of those fits..." she said before starting to cough again.

Miho began to seriously worry. Caesar was weird. Oryou had coughing fits, even without being apparent ill. Plus, she didn't remembered of her being asthmatic. This was a bad sign, she thought.

"If you're not fine, you know you can go home, and we'll bring you the lessons," Erwin suggested.

"No, I don't want to leave you, girls... please don't worry, I'm fine..."

"I don't want you to end up as Tsuchiya," Yukari stirred. "Who knows if you're not sick!"

"I don't feel tired, my neck isn't stiff, by the way. I probably caught a little cold, nothing serious... I'm not paler than usual either. I'm okay, " Oryou reassured, her voice however remaining a bit hoarse. "If I'm feeling bad, I'll tell you, stop worrying."

* * *

At the end of the day, when Miho went out, she realized that the sky was still dark.

She remembered Tsuchiya's words.

_"The situation will deteriorate from tomorrow evening. Houses will burn, there will be a lot of damage and many losses... I can't yet say how many, but the cats will hit hard tomorrow. There will also be a storm. "_

This phrase echoed in her head.

_"The night may be terrible..."_ she thought._ "At least I'm protected, but the others..."_

* * *

For their part, the remaining members of the Duck team had planned to spend the evening together.  
Since Noriko's death, they were all three in the need to find something to do. They couldn't play volleyball because of their number. So they were going to Shinobu's.

To get there, they passed through the city, then cut through the forest before arriving. There, they would spend their evening together before returning each home.

It was still daylight. They had not finished very late, being in first grade. But clouded sky did not tell them anything good. They try to arrive before that there is a storm.

Halfway, their discussion had still not stopped.

"Can't you feel like something is missing without Noriko?" the blonde murmured.

"Yeah, there's a big gap," Taeko said. "Bigger than when she was only mad."

"If only you hadn't held me when I wanted to go help Tae-chan," Shinobu hissed, visibly irritated.

"If I hadn't have retained you, you may have got killed!" Akebi protested. "Who knows if Noriko wouldn't have attacked you?"

"And Taeko, huh? Don't you think she has almost died?" the tallest girl blazed.

Their friend didn't even have the time to start a sentence. The discussion was getting worse.

"Yes, but it was she who asked us to go in another room! If you had disobeyed her instructions, I don't know if she would have liked!" the girl with long blonde hair argued.

"But..." Taeko tried to say, quickly interrupted.

"I think she might have needed help!" Shinobu yelled.

"She probably would have asked for!"

"Not necessarily! Look, when Noriko was trying to strangle her, you think you can shout when someone's strangling you? You can't even breathe! She could not call for help, stop being such a retard!" the girl with the ponytail boomed.

"Wait, girls..."

"Maybe, but she made it, she could have asked for our help before or after!" the blonde cried.

Although Akebi had a huge patience, it began to touch its limits. She had watery eyes and her voice trembled as if she was on the verge of breaking down.

"I should have helped her from the beginning! Noriko could be still alive today! And you have locked us up and you have kept that damn key on you ! What the hell is in your head ?! Can you imagine if we had remained locked up?" the brunette snapped.

"Go ahead, say it's Taeko's fault, while you're at it! Meanwhile, I saved you from being injured! Look, our team is broken, and now you have to join in by assaulting me when I say something to you, are you trying to clear me off?!"

"Stop saying bullshit, I've never spoken of clearing you off!" Shinobu shouted. "It's you who imagines things that do not fucking exist!"

Taeko became increasingly nervous. She couldn't do anything to stop her friends. She was tempted to leave and come back home, but she didn't want to leave them. She soon felt that they were likely to come to blows.

"Listen, maybe..."

The maroonish-haired couldn't, one more time, speak, cut off by Akebi.

"Noriko could be still alive today, then it is as if you threw the blame on Taeko, poor girl, she had been attacked and it's almost like you demonized her, I saved you, it's like how you repay me? If Noriko hadn't thrown herself by the window, we would not be here."

"It's funny to see how you contradict yourself. But I have one thing to say, Akebi Sasaki."

After a quick pause, she slapped the blonde.

"You want me to clear you off ? Then, I'll clear you off. Well. You wanted it. But don't be weepy after. Don't EVEN go to see me. Get out of our lives and leave us alone, Taeko and I. And if you end up alone and suffer? Suffer alone, and DIE alone. "

Taeko, shocked by what her short-tempered friend had said, finally raised her voice:

"STOP!"

* * *

At the same time, all three felt a strange force in the air. The thunder rumbled. And something black approached them from behind.

Akebi turned back. It was a herd of dark gray cats with yellow eyes, all bigger than average. And they jumped on her.

"Ah... Cats!" the blonde cried, scared.

"Don't move, I'm coming!" Shinobu said, like having forgotten the argue they had a few minutes earlier.

She tried to rush to her friend. Cats jumped almost on her face and made her fall back. Her head hit the ground with a thud and she felt dizzy.

Taeko was paralyzed at the mere sight of cats. She could not make any movement. She was too terrified.  
She was pinned to the wall and could only watch her friend being killed.

The creatures were wounding Akebi's face, neck, belly, arms and legs. She tried to struggle, but the cats were clawing her harder. However, they seemed to aim her neck. But she had scratches everywhere.  
She struggled, trying to defend herself, trying to remove these beasts of her body, but her movements were unsuccessful.  
The cats, seeming to multiply like ants on an apricot fell to the ground, continued to cut Akebi's fine and white skin.

She screamed, squealed, tried to cry for help, but her friends couldn't do anything; one because she was knocked out, the other because she was paralyzed by fear.

A cat, bigger than the others which were already of good size, walked on Akebi's body, raised a clawed paw over her neck...

* * *

When Shinobu regained the missing half of her consciousness, Taeko was above her, her eyes widened by terror and worry.

"Ta ... Taeko?" the laying one said.

"Shinobu... I have a bad feeling. A..Akebi is injured, it's bad, it bleeds a lot, I have a terrible feeling..., I... I feel that..."

The girl with the ponytail got up abruptly.

"It's not true. It isn't possible."

She saw the form of her friend lying on the ground and went quickly to her.

Akebi was in really bad condition. Her uniform was covered in scratches and blood-stained. She was lying on her back, tilted slightly on the right. Her face was only a little scratched. It wasn't the same for her neck : broad and deep, bleeding profusly, streaked her throat.

"Akebi?" Shinobu called, very worried.

No reply. The blonde didn't move. Her inert body seemed limp. A gray cat with yellow eyes, of normal size, was lying down beside her.

"Akebi.. It's me, it's Shinobu..."

Taeko had joined her friend, watching the scene without being able to say anything, terribly affected.

"Akebi... please... forgive me for what I said earlier..."

Her friend's voice seemed to break at each word, as if she was about to burst into tears.

Finally, Shinobu knelt besides the blonde. She looked at her half-open eyes, her terrified expression, guessing that she had suffered greatly at her death. She remembered her pretty face, her smile, then the last words she had said to her.

"Akebi..." she whispered, beginning to tear up. "...Akebi... I'm sorry..."

She broke down. She laid on the blonde's lifeless body. She was angry with herself. She was terribly sad for what she had said some time earlier. Her own words came back to her mind.

_"Get out of our lives and leave us alone"  
"Suffer alone, and DIE alone."  
"DIE alone."  
"DIE"_

Taeko, heartbroken and feeling bad, took her friend in her arms.

"It's my fault..." the girl with the ponytail wept.

"It's not your fault..." the brown-haired contradicted.

"I told her to die, Taeko. I wished her dead. And now that she is dead, I really..."

"You were angry, you could not control yourself, and you could not guess that those cats would attack..."

Shinobu got up and hugged her remaning friend. Both were sobbing now.

"Promise me you will never leave me, Shinobu.. I need you so much, and vice versa..."

"I promise I'll always be with you, Taeko... we will survive, I promise you, too. We'll survive for her. For Akebi. And Noriko."

And while they were embracing each other, they felt a burning smell.  
They turned their heads: not far, several houses had caught on fire.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE II :**  
**No, no, they're not in love or something xD They were friends, but now they're closer.**  
**Their relationship will get closer and closer, but if they were to fall for each other, it would be implicit, I don't want to write romance, I find it annoying.**  
**I was listening to this while I was translating the fight between Akebi and Shinobu... **  
** watch?v=TnW34QZQYXQ **  
**I think it makes it even more sadder. **  
**Chapter 11 will be very graphic, so I'll warn you in the author's note. Curiously, I have more inspiration for Chapter 11 than for other chapters. It always happens with ALL of my stories. xD**  
**See you later !**


	12. Chapter 11 : Fire, Wounds, Escape

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Another long chapter, yeaaaahyyyyyy~~~~~~~~~  
I felt a sadistic pleasure while writing this one. You'll see which character I like the most to harm (it's not bashing at all, don't worry, when I like a character, I tend to harm it) and make suffer. I'm really twisted sometimes. xD  
Chapter 12 will be perhaps longer to write. But I'm still enjoying writing such violent things. **

**WARNING : Contains graphic imagery, and I won't cut off the story because I find it too annoying.**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

The houses near the two girls began to flare up. The smoke was rising, darkening the sky even as they saw it, throwing soot in the air and irritating their throats.

"What happens?" Taeko worried, as flames destroyed buildings.

Shinobu didn't answer her. She thought. She looked at Akebi's dead body, then turned her head toward her friend.

"...Come on, back to your home. We can hope there won't be fire."

"Okay... but... and Akebi?"

"We'll go to take her later," the brunette with the ponytail said, her voice trembling. "Here, for the moment, we must save our skin."

They marched in the other direction, and then began to run one next to the other, leaving Akebi's corpse, thinking only of saving their lives.  
The destructive fire blazed above their heads on the roof. The sky turned a reddish color. The weather was very cloudy. Thunder rumbled. The wind was blowing, heightening the flames.  
They were running to Taeko's apartment. They neared the school. Their journey would make them bypass the school and go through several streets. They hoped to find a safe place.

* * *

On her side, Erwin was run off her feet between worrying about Caesar and look after Saemonza and Oryou.  
The first one wasn't far from her. She was outside. She looked away, as pensive or worried about time. Lightning was streaking the sky, but she didn't want to go indoors. She hummed a quite melancholic melody, although she was in her normal mood.  
The second had been coughing several times during the day and had to stay in the infirmary for the last two hours of class. She was in half-sitting position, leaning against a wall, reading a book on the bombing of Kagoshima.  
Besides, where was Caesar? Since their return to school, she had locked herself in her room. There was noise for a while. Noise that had worried the blonde.

She heard laughing hysterically. She had also heard hits, destruction, but had not had the courage to enter the room. She remembered their pact some time earlier. Her heart had broken the instant she heard her friend's laughter.

_"It's almost the end,"_ she thought. _"I'm going to do what she asked me.. but... but it's so hard to imagine that I will commit a murder. But I would have done my duty, even if it means taking her life away... "_

Caesar's room was now silent. Strangely silent. As if she was not there.

At the same time, Erwin chose to knock at her door.

"Caesar?"

No reply.

"Open the door!"

The door slid. The brunette's room was empty.

Everything was in a terrible mess. The walls were covered with marks of nails, as if she had scratched them. Many things were on the floor, the futon was in a corner of the room and the closet's door was smashed. The tatamis also showed signs of scratches.

And the door leading outside was open.

Erwin began to look for her all around the house, suddenly taken over by a terrible fear.

"Caesar... where are you?" she whispered, her stress level increasing.

Oryou, feeling that the atmosphere was getting tensed, turned her head.

"What's happening?"

Erwin turned back, a worried look on her face.

"Caesar has disappeared."

"How so?" Saemonza questioned.

"I don't know, and I can tell you that this is worrying... We should go get her," the blonde continued, her voice strained.

"I stay here, she may come back while you're not there," the brunette with long hair warned. "I'd rather stay here waiting for her comeback."

"I come with you, Erwin", the smaller girl said. "She's not necessarily far away. No time to use the octogram."

"Yes, go for her with me. Sae, we leave you here?"

"Yes, yes, don't worry, I stay here, maybe she's just strolling or something."

"Well, see you later !" Erwin waved.

"Good luck and be careful, girls!"

* * *

Erwin and Oryou went out. They advanced in the street, not without concern for Saemonza and Caesar.

The burning smell assaulted their nostrils. Wherever they went, they could see the fire, especially from a distance. And no firefighter around.  
Meows, cries were heard. Strange noises. Everything became heavy. It was a real torture.  
The temperature, cooler three hours earlier, had increased by one or two degrees.

Along the way, they saw two people running to them.

"Matsumoto-san! Nogami-san!" a voice they knew called.

"The volleyball team?" Erwin asked, turning her head.

The ones who had called approached. Breathless, they seemed to have come for miles without stopping as their state of mental and physical fatigue was visible.

"Kondou-san! Kawanishi-san! Are you okay?" the black-haired got concerned.

"We were going to Taeko's, but it seems that it's burning here too, although this is much less than over there," Shinobu explained. "We were looking for a place where we could go without the risk of getting burned."

"It's fine, fire doesn't seem to spread like usual, we just hope that it won't burn our house. Caesar went missing and there's Saemonza who stayed at home because she thinks she will come back," explained the blonde. "But you're only two... where is Sasaki-san?"

"Akebi is dead," Taeko murmured, her voice cracking with sadness. "We couldn't do anything, she couldn't even defend herself."

"Oh... I'm sorry for both of you, I hope none of you will lose her life," Oryou sighed.

Shinobu's eyes flooded when she thought about what she had told her friend before she got killed, but she pulled herself together quickly.

"Well, good luck to find Suzuki-san, and if you need something, we are here," the brunette with the ponytail told.

"Be careful", the blonde said.

While the two sporty girls went away, Oryou and Erwin continued to look for Caesar.

They passed a pile of collapsed beams ; there was a human form below them.

It was Momogaa. She probably didn't feel anything. Her eyes were wide open, as if she had died instantly. Her mouth was open, spilling a little blood, reflecting the internal injuries. The beam had crushed her back, almost severing her body in two parts, blew up her internal organs, which had caused the rise of blood from her mouth. At her side, a gray cat with yellow eyes had died the same way, crushed under a beam.

"This is bad..." Oryou whispered. "How many people are we going to lose?"

"I don't know," Erwin blew. "And I'm afraid of seeing that the next is Saemonza or Caesar."

"I don't even want to imagine what it would be if one of them or both were gone..."

"Same here. I wonder if Yukari is going well. Yeah, she's not always with us, but she's also our friend..."

"I'm afraid for her too. She risks her life by investigating, too."

Erwin nodded, trying not to let herself go of anxiety. They resumed their walk shortly after.

They found nothing. Maybe the girl in scarf came back.

Returning to their home, an unhealthy voice sounded nearby.

"Meeeeoooow... Oryou-saaaaan ... Wheeeeere aaaare yooooou?"

Caesar's voice. The blonde startled. She made a sign to her friend to follow her, then led her into a hidden corner.

"What happens?.. Why does she calls me?" Oryou asked, fear legible in her eyes.

"I... I do not know... I don't feel well about it..."

Erwin stopped talking, trembling, anxious, worried.

"I don't know what could happen, but... I'm afraid. For Saemonza. I'm afraid that something happened to her."

"What could happen to her?" the bespectacled girl continued, a little confused.

"I don't really know... But I'm scared... I have a feeling she is going to die..."

"Caesar would slay her?"

The blonde didn't answer. She couldn't. She worried way too much than usual. She heard again the voice of her friend calling Oryou, always accompanied by meowing.

"Listen, I have one thing to say. Flee. Go away. The farther you can. And hide. I beg you."

The black-haired girl had a start.

"You want me to flee? But I can't leave you!" she opposed.

"Leave me and go as far as you can. If you meet the girls of volleyball team, Nekota, Yukari, Anglerfish or Leopon team, stay with them. Tell them to come here. I'll see what happens, but please, run, go away from Caesar, this is for your good that I ask you to leave me there ..."

"And if she attacks you?"

"Do not worry about me," Erwin said. "I'll defend myself. But you're smaller and weaker and she knows it. Plus, with your coughing problems, you're even more vulnerable. If someone has to die, it's me. You must live. Please, run away."

Oryou reluctantly stood up. She glanced at her friend.

"Survive," she whispered.

"You, survive" the blonde replied, tearing up.

Oryou nodded slightly in acceptance before beginning to run as fast as she could, despite her short of breath and her lack of endurance.

Erwin looked away. Now she was perhaps alone with Caesar.

She could still hear her voice calling for Oryou and meowing. Her own friend was insane. Who knew if Saemonza hadn't got killed by her?  
The blonde stood up and ran in the direction of her home. This could not last. She had to return, she had to look if everything was okay. There was already almost an hour she was gone; it could have been enough to kill the brunette with long hair.

* * *

She came home, breathless, her heart beating at high speed.  
The gate was open. The door, however, was closed.  
The blonde walked anxiously. She knocked.

"Saemonza-san!"

No reply.

"Sae... Open!"

Still no answer. Concern grew in Erwin as she opened the door.

She jumped when she discovered the damage.

The panel that defined one of the rooms had been overthrown. Several furniture had been moved and were on the ground, anywhere in the hall.  
She went inside. She noticed a wooden bar was broken in the bottom of another room; a cinderblock nearby, blackened by lighting and maybe another thing on a particularly rough side was here too.

Other panels were dislodged and fallen, probably due to an impact. There were scratch marks on the tatami, as if someone had attacked the floor while defending or attempting to struggle.  
Erwin felt that her anxiety rose a notch when she saw a spot on the ground. A black spot. No, it was the light that made it black. In fact, it was dark red.

It was blood.

The blonde jumped.

_"Something terrible must have happened..."_

She continued to tread carefully in the house. There were traces of blood everywhere on the tatami; greater or less, she found even some on the walls.  
And when she tripped on a small object, she looked at her feet ; it was the small dagger that Caesar had in her room. And there was also red fluid on the blade.

The more she was progressing in the house, the more the smell of blood was felt in the air. And more the smell was noticeable, less she was reassured.

She came into the room where she had tea with Miho before the battle against Anzio, right next to the stairs. The low light wasn't allowing her to see clearly, but she could discern more traces of blood on the floor, and finally a long, thin red trail. Looking up, she saw in the back of the room a lying, long form after the big track of blood, near the window where the table was laid; it was reversed and appeared to have been launched on a panel, which was cracked.  
A thin form, with long, dark reddish-brown hair...

"Saemonza-san!" Erwin exclaimed, horrified.

She rushed to her friend and felt her wrist; she was alive, she was breathing normally, but she was in an horrible condition.  
She was lying on her stomach, slightly on the left side, unconscious. Her clothes were stained with blood; someone seemed to have tried to murder her and had probably left her for dead.  
She had a gash in her lower back and a few other ones, less deep, on her sides, mainly on her left. Her arms were also injured. Her legs were the least affected.

But when the blonde turned the brunette around, what she saw failed to make her sick.

"Oh no... not that..." she choked.

Saemonza's face, formerly very pretty, was terribly wounded ; on the left side of her head, between the eyebrow and half of the cheekbone, the skin had been torn off, showing her flesh; her left eye, which she closed usually like she was aiming, was reduced to a cavity from which flowed a crimson fluid. She had several deep gashes in the same place ; that reflected her attacker's violence. The other side of her head was almost unscathed, if it was only a scratch mark under the jaw. Signs of struggle were visible; traces of nails on the tatami showed that she had struggled rather violently and reflected the fear she had felt. She seemed to have fought until the end.

"Sae, I beg you, open your eyes..." Erwin whispered, grabbing her friend's less harmed arm.

Saemonza half-opened her good eye, then closed it, opened it again and looked at the blonde.

"Erwin?"

"Yes, I'm here," she murmured.

"I... I can't see anything with my left eye," she gasped before getting up on one elbow, unsure of her movements.

She ran her hand on her injured face and stared at the blood on it when she looked at it.

"And.. Where is Oryou?"

The girl with the cap sighed, looking sad.

"She... she fled..."

"She isn't dead, is she? You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Why would I lie to you?... And no, I told her to flee when I heard Caesar calling her..."

"Caesar called her?..."

"Yes, she was meowing and laughing, I think I'm going to do what she told me to do... kill her... in fact, was it her who did this to you?"

"I don't remember... I think it'll come back to me, I may have received a blow to the head."

"Meanwhile, she didn't half hurt yourself..." the blonde sighed. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah."

"I go searching for something to bandage your wounds, in waiting to take you to the hospital..."

* * *

For her part, Taeko wasn't far from her home with Shinobu. Near where she lived, almost nothing was burning. There were only a few piles of leaves or some bins ablaze. It was not likely much.

They were sitting together on stairs and hadn't stopped talking since.

It was one of the only places where they could feel safe, or at least less endangered.

"I asked a question to myself..." Taeko began.

"About?" Shinobu said.

"I wondered if something had happened to Matsumoto-san and Nogami-san..." the girl with the red hairband continued.

"We can't really know, there's so many people who go crazy..."

"What also concerns me is the fact that Sugiyama-san remained home. This is easier to corner her and therefore to kill her, and I wonder if someone did harm her. "

"Do not worry about it, I'm sure she's okay."

Taeko changed the topic before feeling too concerned. She mildly know Saemonza, though.

"You know, Shinobu-chan, I miss our volleyball games."

"So do I. But we lost half of our team and no one else in the tankery club seems to be into volleyball..."

"I wonder if our club will be reformed, eventually. Noriko had died, our movement had died with her. And right after, we had to lose Akebi."

"There's no choice, we must recruit... But wait, because a lot of people from tankery club had died, maybe our club will come back, in fact."

"Yeah, but we have lost two members, we're less now, I'm not very optimistic on that side."

Somewhat destabilized by Taeko's response, Shinobu sighed.

"You're not wrong... But you can't win if you don't play, we should still try to revive our club."

"Oh, maybe girls will be interested in volleyball, everything is perhaps not lost after all. But I don't feel good enough to lead this movement. I haven't the moral strength Noriko had. I don't have the temperament of a leader, I realize now, she really had a strength of character that was what made the thing advance. "

"Nobody should lead it, in fact. We were part of those who followed it, we never tried to lead it."

Taeko was going to respond when both heard someone running, approaching them from the right.  
It was a rather short girl, with black hair pulled into a messy ponytail, dark-blue eyes and wearing glasses.  
Oryou.

She stopped in front of them, failing to fall down, her legs trembling, panting, struggling to catch her breath, looking exhausted.

"Nogami-san!" Shinobu cried. "What are you doing here?"

"...Erwin told me to flee..." Oryou replied in a terribly hoarse voice, before being seized with a fit of coughing.

"What for?" Taeko asked.

"Caesar is mad... and Erwin asked me to run away and come back to see her with someone... and you were one of the people she mentioned..."

"Here we go, then?" the tallest one questioned.

"Wait, wait, let me get my breath back, okay?..."

Oryou had great difficulty recovering. She was stressed, had run for long and felt more than tired. In addition, she felt oppressed and had trouble catching her breath. She coughed violently.

"This cough is even more exhausting...," she gasped.

"If you want, we carry you," Taeko suggested.

"Yes, you can, carry me until I recover," the short girl accepted. "And then, when I'll say it, you'll put me down."

"Alright," Shinobu ended.

The latter stooped, gripped and carried Oryou on her back. She wasn't too heavy.  
They started walking in the direction she gave to them. She gradually regained her breath, then after ten minutes, asked to be put down.

She continued, however, to worry for Erwin, Caesar and Saemonza.

* * *

The three girls got afraid when they saw something terrible happening not far from them.

Momo was holding Pazomi by the throat. The poor girl could make no movement; the manager of the Student Council held her firmly. With a cry, she began to stab her a few times in the chest.  
Nozomi was screaming in pain. But Momo was way stronger than her. It wasn't long to kill her. And when she had finished, she left the lifeless, bleeding corpse of Pazomi against the wall and walked away ,laughing hysterically.

The trio approached; a dark gray cat with yellow eyes died alongside the member of Public Morals Commitee.


	13. Chapter 12 : Return, Gunshot, Lost Face

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Chaaaaapter 12~!  
Please don't hit me for having harmed Saemonza that bad *evil smile*I love to make suffer every character I like. I've always been like this. Quite sadistic.  
Plus, I took my own character sorter and I did the test... and she turned out to be my favourite along with Taeko, Shinobu and Erwin.. then comes Oryou, Hoshino, Kay... and other ones. Miho comes in 12th place. But I'm fond of everyone.  
Yep, her injuries are a reference to Brightheart (Warriors), but I tried to make them not the same. I don't want to be a copycat.**

**Anyway, you, little potato who is reading or maybe following my story, I wish you a good reading~!**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Erwin brought her injured friend in the bathroom, making sure that the mirror was on the side she was blind.  
Now she was bandaging her wounds. After asking her to get in underwear and to sit on the edge of the bathtub, she began by wrapping the injuries on her sides.  
The cuts had bled but were fortunately not very deep. They did not seem to reach internal organs; however, they needed stitches.

"I know a girl who will see needles..." Erwin chuckled, passing the strip of fabric around the waist of her friend who wasn't moving too much.

"Don't tell me about needles, I already hate being vaccinated," Saemonza whispered before having a giggle, but still seeming a bit downcast.

_"She'll have damn scars after..."_ thought the blonde. _"I imagine how it must have hurt... These gashes on the sides will leave marks, for sure. But it won't be worse than on her face..." _

"Do you think Oryou is okay?" the brunette asked.

"Oh, don't worry, she may have joined Nishizumi-san, the volleyball team or the Leopon team... I think she'll come back soon."

Erwin continued to carefully bandage the wounds of her friend. After completing the sides, she did her arm, then her face.  
She saw the scale of damage in a brighter environment. The scars would be very visible. Especially for the two or three cuts that striped her left eye. The skin was torn almost to her temple. Her hair had not been affected, however.  
Her empty eye socket had stopped bleeding. But it looked like a bottomless hole. She would be one-eyed for the rest of her life.  
When she finished bandaging the half of the girl's face, she let her get dressed again and prepared to leave when she heard yelling and laughing.

Caesar. She was back.

Erwin, without notice, grabbed her friend by the arm and led her into her bedroom. There, she dropped her, then opened the drawer of her night table, grabbed her gun and loaded it. Then she rushed to the door.

"What's happening?" Saemonza asked, troubled.

"Caesar is back...shut yourself in my room and don't come out until you hear a gunshot."

"A gunshot... Why?"

"I'll do what I should have done from the beginning of her madness," the blonde murmured harshly. "But stay here and don't open before I have fired."

"Well... okay."

Erwin closed the door and heard Saemonza locking it.

* * *

The entrance was opened and a murmur was heard near the kitchen.  
The girl with the cap looked and felt her heart tearing.

It was Caesar. Her eyes were red and teary, like she had conjunctivitis, as Noriko before dying. She had traces of blood on her and was also injured on her left thigh, probably because she had attacked someone who had defended theirself. She held in her hand a small dagger, and on the other, she stroked a dark gray , yellow-eyed cat sitting in front of her. She laughed softly.

"C-Caesar?" Erwin called without raising her voice.

Her friend turned to her, revealing her unhealthy expression and seeming to prepare to jump down her throat from one minute to the next.

"Caesar..." the blonde murmured.

"Destruction", the girl with the sagum gasped before grabbing her dagger and jump on the other one.

Erwin found herself pressed back. She dodged an attempt of stabbing from Caesar who was aiming at her neck.  
She rolled over and tried to get up, but the weight of the girl kept her down. She kept trying to stab her. The blonde looked for her gun, but realized it was two feet away from her.

"God dammit," she swore in a whisper while she was trying to escape.

Suddenly, the brunette was distracted by the sound of tapping on a door. Saemonza was helping her friend. Erwin took advantage of this moment to free herself and unleashed a violent kick in her chest. She didn't like to hurt her. But it was a matter of life and death.  
Caesar was thrown back, but got up quickly and while the other thought to be out of trouble, she pinned her to the wall and raised her dagger.

Erwin couldn't dodge the blow this time. The blade planted in her upper right arm, leaving a deep, open gash which started to bleed.  
The blonde let out a cry of pain. She hadn't expected this one. She thought she had enough time to get her gun and shoot. But she was wrong and was now had an injured arm. Tough luck, she was right-handed.  
Caesar continued to try to stab her repeatedly. Another strike against the door caught the brunette's attention; this time, Erwin grabbed her friend and gave her a blow on the neck, knocking her out.

She took her gun and placed her on his knees, sitting on the floor.

"I'll do what you asked me to do," she blew, her eyes filling with tears.

She was crying. It was hard for her.

"Caesar... I'm sorry... terribly sorry..."

In a sob, she said her last words to her.

"You're my friend and... I'll forever love you... Goodbye, Takako..."

She grabbed her friend's head, then placed the gun on her neck.  
And with her trembling fingers...  
finally pulled the trigger while turning her head.

* * *

Meanwhile, Oryou, Taeko and Shinobu passed the gate of the Hippo team's house.

When they approached the door, they heard a gunshot.

The smallest of the three rushed to the door and opened it. The other two preferred to stay outside, not wanting to meddle in what wasn't concerning them.

The black-haired gasped.

Erwin was sitting in the middle of the room, with some blood splatters on her face, holding Caesar's body in her arms, like snuggling her.

"I know I did the right thing... but now I am responsible for her death..." she murmured weakly, stroking the hair of one she had just killed with her injured arm.

"Erwin !"

Oryou walked towards the blonde-haired.  
Her friend turned her head. Tears were streaming down on her cheeks.

"I did it..." she whispered.

"She attacked you?" the short girl worried.

While the other was going to answer, Saemonza opened the door and walked to the two girls.

The bespectacled gasped in surprise when she saw the blood-stained bands on the brunette's face.

"Sae ! What happened to you?" she continued.

"I was knocked unconscious and I woke up with terrible pain, I think my left eye is blind and I still don't remember what happened to me, although I think my memory will come back," the girl with long hair replied.

The latter gave a start when she saw Caesar's dead body.

The girl in the scarf hadn't suffered. The bullet in her neck had killed her instantly. In addition, she wasn't conscious when she had been shot. She hadn't felt her death arriving.

"She...?"

"Yes," Erwin interrupted her.

Saemonza was shocked by the wound of her friend's arm.

"Oh.. well, you'll see needles as well!" she said.

"Yes ... I think I'll have such an awful scar."

* * *

Outside, Taeko and Shinobu remained near the gate, but they were sitting, taking care not to show too much to avoid being killed by Momo if she were to wander around here.  
They were talking about their concerns. The cats were constantly gaining ground. How long would last that carnage, until when people would go insane and die? Until when would that slaughter occur? Until when would they fear to see each other dying?  
They hadn't much topics to talk of. Even the volleyball was after the cats, although it was their passion besides tankery.

They were too preoccupied to successfully talk about something else.

"Tae-chan..." Shinobu whispered.

"Yes?"

"What would you do if I went crazy?" she said softly.

Taeko took several seconds to respond.

"I... I do not know. It would be the worst torture for you and me. And I don't want to lose you like we lost Noriko."

"Noriko probably didn't feel anything. She wasn't herself. She would never have wanted to strike the M3 Lee, kill you or kill Akebi."

"Do you really think she felt nothing? I think she probably realized that something was wrong."

"We will never know how she felt like," the brunette with the ponytail sighed. "But I'm sure she didn't notice she was going crazy. Maybe she lost her mind when she got up the morning she tried to hit the Rabbit team."

"If you were going crazy, I think it would be very tough for me. And if you were to die, I wouldn't stand it, I would die too.. maybe from depression... or because I would have taken an overdose of painkillers."

"Do not think about that," Shinobu replied firmly. "Don't think about my death. And don't even try to think of painkillers. Don't begin to feel stressed at this point. I'm sorry to say it so bluntly, but I miss the time when you were so easygoing, and also the time when you were optimistic and cheerful, where went the Taeko who was always smiling, always trying to find a way to have fun ?"

She felt a little hurt, but admitted that her friend was right.

"It's true, and it's already good that I can almost control my anxiety, I try to pull myself together when I feel the attack coming."

"It's still a big step. You progressed. That's fine."

* * *

For their part, the Hippo team tried as best as they could to try to find a way to get rid of Caesar's corpse. They were afraid that if they left her in a room, she rots and the smell spreads everywhere.  
So they chose to leave her in her bedroom, covering her with her blanket, closing the curtains and darkening the room, closing the door until they can do something to remove the body, Saemonza approached Oryou.

"Oryou-san?"

"Yeah ?"

"I... I want to see me," she said, looking a little uncertain. "I want to see what's under these bands that hide my face. I didn't see anything... I just felt all when I woke up."

"You want to see your face?... Well... I'm taking you into the bathroom," the girl with unruly hair agreed, sensing that she was going to have her emotions to the test.

"Yes... seeing myself.. seeing my real face..."

* * *

They went to the bathroom. Oryou placed the mirror on the right side and looked from behind.

Saemonza, her hands trembling slightly, advanced to it and looked at her bandaged face long. A spot of blood was visible on the bands.  
Then she slowly untied her headband, put it on the left, then untied the knot that held the strips of cotton and began to slowly unroll them.

The more she was removing them, the more it revealed the horrific injuries she had on the left side of her face.

And when she was done and she looked up, she released the tapes.

The blood had coagulated and the bleeding had stopped.

Two deep gashes streaked her face, crossing her eyesocket almost horizontally, damaging part of her cheekbone and extending slightly at her forehead. Her left eye was no more. A big, large scratching, which ripped off part of her skin, went on the left; something rough was used to hit her.

Kiyomi took several steps back, unable to say anything, her only eye open, trembling in every limb. She slid down once she reached the wall, almost hitting Oryou who was to her right.  
And she couldn't stop herself uttering a scream. She was scared. She was scaring herself. She couldn't bear the sight of her wounded face. Her tears flowed from her one eye.

_"Oh Lord!..." _the other girl thought, terribly affected by the reaction of her friend and shocked by her injuries. _"She had such a beautiful face..." _

"I..I see now. I know now why Erwin was looking at me with that scared look when I woke up..."

She lifted her head.

"I'm not myself anymore..."

"You will always remain my Sae-chan", Oryou comforted her.

Saemonza turned sharply after that answer.

"But look at me, Oryou! I'M HIDEOUS!" she cried, her tears continuing to flow of her right eye.

"No... no..." she contradicted her, keeping calm.

She put a hand on her shoulder and moved closer to her.

"You're pretty the way you are, and no matter if you've been injured, you will always remain beautiful. Anyway, I will always love you for who you are, even with those terrible scars..."

"I'll stay like that for the rest of my life. My family couldn't afford to pay me surgery, they already have barely enough to keep me here, and plus I'm feared of not bearing the anesthesia..."

"It doesn't matter. You will always remain beautiful. Believe me."

A gleam in Oryou's eye showed her sincerity. She made no false compliment. She enjoyed her friend as she was.

Saemonza gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek, then wiped her face and smiled.

"Thank you for being there for me."


	14. Chapter 13 : Slaughter, Memories, Bones

**AUTHOR'S NOTE :  
Woooow this one is one of the longest chapters ever written !  
It took me a lot of time, I know. But I'm proud of it. For once, I don't think "gahh, this one is messed up".  
And yes, Miho returns ! :D  
Good reading, little potato who is in front of their comp and seeing this note !  
**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Hoshino motioned for Suzuki to keep quiet.

"Shhh!" she whispered. "She'll hear us..."

Behind the wall, Momo laughed hysterically. She had already killed Pazomi; now she seemed to be angry after Leopon team.

"Get out, get out," she repeated. "Meeeow!"

"This is bad", Suzuki murmured.

"Don't worry. I'll do something," Hoshino said.

She pointed the ax next to the strain that was before them, a few meters away. The owner of the house had cut wood; a few logs were still visible. The blade was slightly rusty.

"What you gonna do?"

"I'll kill Momo. I don't want her to attack you or to attack anyone else. She already had killed a member of the Public Morals Committee."

Suzuki was going to respond when the PR manager of the Student Council came around the wall and joined them.

"You're here!" she said with an expressionless gaze, her eyes widely open, watery and bloodshot, drooling slightly.

"Suzuki, watch out!"

The blue-eyed brunette jumped back. The other snatched the ax from the trunk and ran to Momo who was preparing to press her friend against the wall to stab her as Pazomi.

"Destroy your life!" the member of the Student Council shouted, turning and pointing her knife at the green-eyed.

Without thinking, she brought down obliquely her weapon on the neck of the mad girl and stuck it in, cutting one of her jugular arteries. Blood spurted and Suzuki moved away. Hoshino received some red projections that stained her face.

Momo's body then fell to the ground, lifeless.

"It's done," the green-eyed blew, wiping the blood off her face.

Without giving her time to answer, she grabbed her friend by the arm and fled.

* * *

Saemonza had gone to bed. She needed sleep, a lot of sleep. Whether she would have nightmares or not. She didn't care either way. She was very tired. The physical and emotional pain had exhausted her. Her feelings. Her sadness. The dejection. All weighed on her.  
She would never be the same. She faked a smile in front of Oryou. She thanked her sincerely, but she didn't think that she would one day recover from such trauma.  
She saw again her wounded face. Her gouged-out eye, the skin around reduced to shreds, the deep scars that crossed it. She had also bandaged her wounds again.

"I just want to die... I only want to die..." she whispered, devastated.

Lying curled up on her futon, she was covered almost to the head. She was only in her underwear, showing the bands all over her body.  
She fell asleep despite the stress caused by the atmosphere. The red sky was darkening as night fell, those dark gray clouds, the wind, fire, all made her feel uncomfortable.  
She agreed with Erwin that if the house caught fire, the blonde would come and wake her up.  
She plunged quickly into sleep.  
Her memory returned to her, a tear streamed down her cheek as she was crying in her sleep.

* * *

_-  
Oryou and Erwin were now out. Saemonza had remained at home. _

_She waited now for Caesar's return. She didn't know how long it would take, but she knew that her friend would come back. With all her heart, she was waiting.  
She had for once a bit of patience, maybe because it was someone she loved. With someone else, she wouldn't stand waiting for too long. _

_She made several comings and goings in the main room. Then, she walked around the house. She went out into the yard, walked around the house, came in, went out, came back, went out and watched, closed her eyes for a moment hope to rest, then watched again, made another round of the house... _

_After half an hour, she was tired and sat in the middle of the room where she had tea with Miho._

_"Well, when will you finally come back?" she said, a little fed up with waiting._

_She also was concerned about Erwin and Oryou. Had something happened to them?  
But her main concern remained about the girl with the red scarf._

_A sound of a sliding door caught her attention. She heard a heavy breathing, as if someone had run for long. _

_Oryou? She would certainly have been seized with coughing.  
Erwin? She would have warned her.  
Caesar?_

_Saemonza looked through the half-open door._  
_Caesar was here. She had, at her feet, a wooden bar and a cinderblock._  
_Her stare was expressionless. Her eyes were watery and reddish, as if they were irritated, although she was not crying._

_"Caesar?" Kiyomi called softly._

_The brunette didn't answer her. She seemed to ignore her and went into her room. _

_Saemonza returned to the center of the room and didn't realize she wasn't facing her friend's bedroom. _

_She didn't hear her coming stealthily until she was getting something out and threw something else on the ground. _

_The girl with long hair turned back. _

_"Caesar?" _

_"You're done for," the other whispered harshly, smiling largely and unhealthily. _

_"C-Caesar? Are you alright?" _

_Her friend didn't answer. She firmly took the long-haired and threw her against one of the panels; the fusuma fell under the strike's force.__  
__Saemonza got up on one elbow, trembling, her back hurting._

_"Why?" she murmured._

_Caesar grabbed her again and threw her violently again on a fusuma which also fell with the force of impact, then grabbed the wooden bar._

_Kiyomi, while trying somehow to get up, Takako approached her and began to hit her with it.  
The thin girl took blows. In fear, she tried to hold on the tatami, in vain; her nails, which she wore rather long, clawed the rush and left marks.  
A splinter wounded her lightly on the arm and another scratched her under the jaw. But the most severe pain was in her back and her left side. _

_Her attacker then tried to stab her, but missed her aim and gashed her flank instead of her stomach. The blood began to flow, although the wound wasn't as deep as it looked._

_Saemonza struggled as she could while Caesar held her firmly. She took advantage of a moment of inattention to grab the dagger and hit the leg of her friend who growled in pain.  
She pulled away from the embrace of the mad girl and tried to flee. In vain: Caesar continued to chase her. She struck her repeatedly on the walls, staining them with blood pouring from her wounds. _

_And while she was trying to avoid to drop in pain, she felt she was given a blow in her lower back. It was her friend's dagger.  
She moaned painfully, but her strength increased with adrenaline and she could get up. She tried to flee again, without success. This time, she turned and clawed Takako's cheek. But she realized her mistake when Caesar pinned her to the ground again and brandished her blade over the girl with the headband._

_Saemonza felt that something gave her a stab almost horizontally on her left eye ; she then felt a terrible pain, and when she tried to reopen it, her vision was very blurry and red on this side.  
Caesar then grabbed the cinderblock and, while holding her, gave her a violent blow in the same direction, at the same location. A rough piece of the block tore her skin and put out her eye while cutting a second cut that crossed her eyesocket almost horizontally too. _

_Kiyomi couldn't, this time, get up or even make a move. It hurted too much. Her back, her face, her side, her ribs, her arms ached. She lost consciousness when her friend threw her one last time against a wall before leaving her for dead._

_Yes, she remembered. But she had denied those violent memories.  
Yes, she knew what had happened. But she hadn't wanted to admit it.  
Yes, Caesar had attacked her. But her brain had done everything possible to make her think not.  
Yes, she was in pain, even in her sleep._

_Yes, she knew. _

* * *

For their part, Miho and Yukari advanced in this apocalyptic scenery.  
The night was falling. The fire continued to ravage homes.

The sky was red, darking hour by hour. It was as if the atmosphere was on fire.  
The bright brunette had her gun on her, in order to defend themselves if necessary. Miho still had the little thorny branch.  
"Nishizumi-dono, I wonder how all this will end."

"If we can stop it in time, we won't lose anyone more. By cons, maybe some will have aftereffects..."

"It is also necessary to find a way to eradicate those pieces of crap... I wonder if I'll have to sacrifice people, actually..." Yukari said.

"You mean?" Miho asked.

"I should kill again, we'll see... But I'm afraid to have deaths on my conscience. I already have Utsugi-san's."

Miho sighed, thinking about what her friend had told her just after killing Yuuki.

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, look, when I gave up the championship to go save my fellows..."

"Yes, but this is different, this is not a championship, it's lives..."

"But if you kill a cat and someone, that person won't get mad and risk killing herself or someone else... but if you do it, make sure your victim doesn't suffer, " the captain advised.

"The cat didn't suffer, but Utsugi-san... I saw her in her last moments..."

"She hasn't agonized for hours, though."

"She did have an agony, Nishizumi-dono... She spoke before she died, and luckily she forgave me, even if Yamagou-san nearly hit me later."

"Yukarin." Miho approached her friend and then hugged her. "I hope you won't kill someone from our team..."

At this time, they heard small legs on the ground.

A group of cats going on. One after another. Black with red eyes. The girls felt uncomfortable seeing them.

One... two... three... four... five, then six, seven, eight.  
Eight black cats with red eyes.  
It was the end of the gray with yellow eyes.

Yukari reflexively grabbed her hunting gun and shot two cats one after the other.  
One took the bullet in the head and fell dead; the second, however, was wounded in the back, being able only to drag itself, its hind legs dangling.  
It was mortally wounded; it wouldn't survive and would be dying in the next few hours.

* * *

"Suzuki!" Hoshino exclaimed when she saw her friend falling down.

She stooped. Her friend was injured her back and was bleeding profusely. It looked like a bullet had passed at this point. Yet she had heard no shot.  
Suzuki was on the ground, moaning in pain, her eyes half-closed, unable to make the slightest movement especially in her lower body.

"I can't feel anything in my legs..." she whispered.

Hoshino felt terribly worried. It was bad. She had probably spinal cord lesions.  
They were behind the school. They had tried to hide after killing Momo and running away.

"You can't to move your lower body?"

"No..." the injured girl gasped, still feeling the terrible pain all over her back. "I can't feel my legs and.. and... my back hurts..."

"Oh my god..." the other murmured, more and more stressed.

Her friend, if she was being cured, would probably end up a paraplegic. And this wouldn't help her for tankery and mechanics. Just for a moment, Hoshino hesitated between letting Suzuki die or trying to save her.

Her concern went up a notch when the blue-eyed girl began to cough.  
Blood came out and she seemed to fail to faint at each fit. She grew pale. But she wasn't losing a lot of blood by her injury.  
An artery had been probably broken by the bullet; it was probably an internal injury that would be fatal.

"Suzuki... please, you're all I have left..." Hoshino muttered, taking her friend on her knees, her throat being sore and her eyes blurred with tears.

Her teammate was almost unconscious now; she barely had the energy to look at her, her stare being almost empty, reflecting the sadness, the fear, the pain she was feeling.

Hoshino felt a rather strong and cold draught pass over her face, like a gust of wind, then someone embraced her, but there was no one except her and the girl she was holding.  
It was something intangible, yet a rather pleasant heat.

She heard Nakajima's voice then.

_"Let her go..."_ she said.

"NO! I'm not letting her die, I have nothing else left..." the other girl replied, tears in her voice.

_"If you keep her alive, she will suffer even more, she's yet in a lot of pain..." _the deceased murmured quietly._ "Do you think she would want to spend her days sitting in a wheelchair and without being able to move her lower body, with never walking again?" _

"No, but if she is alive, she will be with me..."

_"Her heart would be broken if she couldn't exercise her passion..." _

"Did you think of me? I'll be alone because Tsuchiya and you were bright enough to die!" the green-eyed brunette snapped, sobbing.

_"Hoshino..."_ Nakajima sighed, still without losing her calm. _"Do it for her. Think about her. Don't do anything stupid..."_

She felt another squall passing on her. There was no more heat. The ghost had disappeared.

"Hoshino?" Suzuki panted weakly.

"Yes, you'll be alright, don't worry..." the other replied, still crying.

"They came for me..."

"No no, you're wrong, you're just woozy..."

"I promise to watch over you, up there with the others..." she said in a last breath, passing from her wounds.

"N-No! Suzuki.. You can't leave me alone!"

Hoshino, panicked when she saw her friend closing her eyes, tried to raise her head, to wake her up...

In vain.

Suzuki was no more.

* * *

"We need to find Hana, Saori and Mako," Yukari said. "We can't let them burn or something!"

"They probably have already gone out," Miho replied. "They're not crazy."

"Yes, but imagine that they have remained locked up... or worse..." the brunette worried.

"Look, we're going to see at Mako's, I think even while sleeping she had to get up and out."

They began to take the road to the house of their friend when they saw someone lying on the ground.

* * *

A rather small girl, with light hair tied in twintails...  
Aya.  
She wasn't far from some food. She probably wanted to bring it to Ayumi.  
And at her side, there was a black cat with red eyes.

"Yukarin..." Miho whispered.

They approached. The corpse's head had been pierced by a bullet.

"I... no..."

Yukari had killed a second person. It would probably haunt her for her entire life. She pulled back suddenly.

"It's because of me!"

"She would have died anyway," Miho replied, saddened. "She was connected to a cat. She would have died anyway, or she would have gone crazy..."

"Nishizumi-dono... how I'm going to live with this guilt on me?"

"I don't know... But you did the right thing..."

"I wonder if Erwin and others are fine," the brunette said. "Maybe I should go and see how they are."

"Go if you want, I'll come with you."

At the time they were going to walk away, they saw two tall girls walking near them.

"Kawanishi-san! Kondou-san!" the captain called.

"Nishizumi-senpai!" Taeko said, approaching.

"Did you see our friends?" Yukari questioned.

"We just arrive from the Hippo team's house, something terrible seems to have happened, but we've crossed your teammates, in fact," Shinobu informed. "They are a little further near the school."

"Where are you going?" Miho asked.

"We were going to find a place to hide until it all stops," Taeko explained. "But if you want, we will join you or we will make sure to stay around."

"You could, yes, stay not far away, the more we will be, the best we'll make," the commander agreed.

"We hope you'll find your friends. Good luck," Shinobu greeted before starting to go away, Taeko following her.

"Good luck to you both!" Yukari waved.

* * *

The remaining two members of the volleyball team didn't stop a lot more, now.  
They had only one desire: escape, run away. As Oryou did. Flee and possibly meet someone who would help them.  
But they preferred to stay near Miho, her friends and the Hippo team. They didn't want to take unnecessary risks.  
They had walked a lot. In addition to the school fatigue, the death of Akebi, they both were very tired. However, this didn't prevent them from continuing. They would rest when they would feel that they no longer would hold on.

Taeko still felt anxious. Even though she was with Shinobu, even knowing that she would protect her, she was still afraid. And if she got killed trying to defend her?  
She preferred not to think about that. This caused her a lot of stress. She would snap if she continued.  
She wondered if the other teams had survived. The student council? The Leopon team? The Rabbit team? And the Public Morals Committee?  
She heard Momo's laughter no more. Maybe she was dead? Maybe someone had finished her? Maybe she had killed herself?  
Or perhaps she just kept quiet, who knew...?

Shinobu was thinking only of her own survival and Taeko's. She was the only person she wanted to save if necessary. The others weren't important anymore. She cared only about two people now.  
She was willing to take risks to make her friend go well. She was even willing to die or be injured, or maybe sick. All she wanted was the good of her best friend, the one she loved more than anything else in the world.  
However, she continued to feel guilty for Akebi. She remembered those horrible words she had uttered just before her death. The mere thought of what happened brought tears to her eyes. She regretted terribly to have caused the quarrel by losing her temper for nothing. If it was part of her personality to be quick-tempered, she wasn't a problem seeker. Stress had probably taken over her.

She moved closer to Taeko and put an arm around her shoulder. She wanted to be near her. To be with her. To feel her natural warmth. To be sure that no one else would touch her or would do anything to her.  
Her friend looked at her. Her eyes were worried, as if she felt that something was wrong.

"Are you alright, Tae-chan?" the brunette with the ponytail questioned.

"No..." the other whispered. "I have a bad feeling..."

"What is it?"

"I don't know what we're gonna get, but I feel it's going to be horrible..."

"Don't worry, I'll never let anything happen to you. As long as I am alive, nothing will happen to you."

She had just finished talking when they heard a terribly loud noise.

* * *

A white line streaked the sky; the lightning struck near the two girls, flaring a tree under those millions of volts.  
The fire spread to the house next door quickly; soon, another house was burning.  
They turned their heads to the sky. From the horizon came a huge, full, red moon which was gradually rising in the cloudy sky. A gust of wind blew strong; thunder rumbled.  
Strong and deep meows were heard in the streets near them.

"We must go away from here!" Taeko cried, suddenly frightened.

Before her friend could stop her, she ran down on road, no longer listening to anything but her instinct telling her to escape. She didn't look before crossing, which she never did usual.  
A car was coming from the right side. It approached gradually Taeko. She was going to be hit. It was inevitable.  
Shinobu, without any thought, rushed and leaped on her friend. She didn't want to lose her.  
She would keep her promise.  
Protect her, even if it meant being hurt or even killed.

In her impetus, she pushed her violently.  
Taeko was thrown forward.

Squealing brakes.  
A scream  
A SCREAM  
IMPACT  
silence.

* * *

Taeko looked up.  
She couldn't believe it.  
Shinobu had been struck instead of her.  
She started by hitting the windshield, then was sent several feet away.  
She laid on the ground on her right side, inert, like...  
killed by the impact.  
Taeko screamed. She didn't want this. This wasn't true for her.

She stood up abruptly and joined her friend. The driver had already fled.

"Shinobu-chan!" she called, her voice cracking with tears of anxiety, terror, fear.

She took her in her arms.  
Her face was slightly scratched. She had some wounds due to friction on the road. She looked semi-conscious, like when her head hit the asphalt a while before; her eyes were staring at nothing, she didn't react, but quickly came to herself.

"Tae-chan... don't worry, I'm not dead," she said.

"Shi-chan!" the other shouted in surprise and worry.

"You know, a while ago, when I said that nothing would happen to you while I'm there?" she whispered. "I saved your life."

"But you'll die!" Taeko protested, terriblty afraid.

"Who told you I was going to die?" the injured girl replied louder, talking normally, her voice however seeming to indicate that she was in pain. "It hurts..."

"Where?" the other girl questioned.

"On the right side of my body... my ribs, my hip, my leg... But it's this one which hit against the ground... But don't worry, I'll get up, we can't stay here with those filthy cats here!"

Despite the pain, her friend remained combative. She started to get up. She wouldn't stay down. She was raised on the elbows, then bent her left leg, beginning to rise.

But both girls heard a snap.  
A sharp crack, as if someone broke a stick.

* * *

Shinobu felt a terrible, stabbing, atrocious pain in her right hip when she put her weight on it. She got suddenly unbalanced and fell on her side, still retained by her elbow, clenching her teeth, her eyes getting wet.  
She could not move her right thigh. No matter how much she would try, she couldn't do it. The pain increased with every effort.  
"Oh, are you okay?!" Taeko questioned.

"No...it really hurts bad..." Shinobu moaned always through her gritted teeth, trying not to scream in pain.

Her right foot was turned outward, but her leg wasn't distorted. The bone had probably not moved, or at least, not too much.  
While Taeko was going to move her friend to a safe place while waiting to do something, she felt a drop fall on her.  
Another drop.  
Four drops.  
Ten drops.  
Then the rain came gradually.

"Perhaps we should go to shelter," the wounded girl suggested, her voice still distorted by pain.

"But... you can't get up!"

"I think I can get up if you help me, but for walking...it will be a quite different matter."

"Well..."

The girl with the headband lifted her friends and held her for preventing her to fall again and worsen her fracture.  
Moving was almost impossible. She would limp a lot and need to be helped to walk, therefore she couldn't go very fast.  
The rain fell. The water smell was floating in the air.

* * *

Taeko took shelter under an old altar that was there. She put Shinobu on her knees and squeezed against her.

"You don't have to do such things for me. I've saved you, yes..."

"I owe you my life, Shi-chan," she whispered while pressing her friend's head against her chest, stroking her hair. "No one should leave a friend behind."


End file.
